Netflix is seeking to claw back $55 million it spent on an undelivered sci-fi series, accusing director Carl Erik Rinsch of squandering the funds to buy luxury cars and trade cryptocurrency and stock options.

The bizarre saga dates back to 2018, at the height of the streaming boom, when Netflix was desperate to woo Rinsch and his passion project away from a competing offer from Amazon.

Although Rinsch’s only prior film, the 2013 action movie 47 Ronin starring Keanu Reeves, had been a box office bomb, Netflix offered him millions more than Amazon, as well as rare ‘final cut’ privileges granting him total control of the project, the New York Times reported.

The unfinished Netflix sci-fi series, dubbed ‘Conquest’, focused on a genius who creates an artificial species dubbed the Organic Intelligent, which is dispatched to trouble spots around the world to provide humanitarian aid.

According to cast and crew members, emails and text messages, and divorce filings cited by the Times, Rinsch grew increasingly erratic during production, claiming he could predict lightning strikes and speaking of coronavirus signals ’emanating from the earth.’

Now, Netflix accuses the 46-year-old of blowing millions from the production budget on risky trades, a fleet of five Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari, and a $387,630 Vacheron Constantin watch, and is seeking to claw back the funds in confidential arbitration.

Netflix is seeking to claw back $55 million it spent on an undelivered sci-fi series, accusing director Carl Erik Rinsch (above with Keanu Reeves on the set of 47 Ronin) of squandering the funds on luxury purchases

In divorce filings, Rinsch’s wife Gabriela Rosés Bentancor says he grew increasingly erratic during production, claiming he could predict lightning strikes and calling airplanes ‘organic, intelligent forces’ that ‘came to say hi’

For his part, Rinsch argues that the funds were contractually his to do as he pleased, and furthermore insists that Netflix owes him an additional $14 million under the terms of the 2018 agreement.

Netflix and Rinsch did not respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com this week.

In an Instagram post, which has since been deleted, Rinsch wrote that he did not respond to questions from the Times because he expected the article to be ‘inaccurate’.

He predicted the media would ‘discuss the fact that I somehow lost my mind … (Spoiler alert) … I did not.’

Rinsch had a successful career filming commercials prior to his movie debut with 47 Ronin, a CGI-intensive fantasy romp that was panned by critics and grossed $151 million at the box office against a budget of $175 million.

After his film flopped, Rinsch returned to making commercials, and on the side began developing a sci-fi passion project with his wife, the model and fashion designer Gabriela Rosés Bentancor.

In the series, unsuspecting humans begin to uncover the true nature of the ‘Organic Intelligent’ superhumans, and turn against them. The series was originally named ‘White Horse’ after the first horseman of the apocalypse from the Bible.

Rosés was in charge of costume design, and the production survived on a shoestring budget by using mostly European actors to avoid Hollywood union rules.

Rinsch, 46, had a successful career filming commercials prior to his movie debut with 47 Ronin, a CGI-intensive fantasy romp that was panned by critics and flopped at the box office

Cindy Holland, who was then in charge of scripted content at the streamer, outbid Amazon for the sci-fi series dubbed ‘Conquest’, focused on a genius who creates an artificial species

Rinsch initially funded the production himself, and then secured financing from production company 30West as well as an emergency injection from the Keanu Reeves.

According to the Times, Rinsch filmed six short episodes ranging from four to 10 minutes, and used them to pitch the streamers on a complete 13-episode season.

The concept drew interest from Amazon, HBO, Hulu, Apple and YouTube, but Netflix was able to snatch up the project after Cindy Holland, who was then in charge of scripted content at the streamer, outbid Amazon.

Netflix agreed to pay $61.2 million in several installments for the rights to the series, but the production soon devolved into chaos.

During filming in Budapest, Rinsch went days without sleep and accused his wife of plotting to have him assassinated, according to two witnesses cited by the Times.

His wife and crew members worried about his use of Vyvanse, a prescription amphetamine used to treat ADHD, and staged an intervention after filming in Budapest wrapped in late 2019.

But after agreeing to live with a sober companion, the director sent the person packing after a few days, according to the Times.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Netflix had already spent $44.3 million on the production, and reluctantly agreed to send another $11 million after Rinsch insisted the whole show risked collapse.

According to the Times, Rinsch’s erratic behavior intensified during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, which strained millions psychologically.

The director took $10.5 million of the $11 million in new Netflix cash and moved it to his personal brokerage account at Charles Schwab, where he placed risky bets on stock options, according to the Times, citing financial documents in the divorce case.

He bet that shares of Gilead Sciences, which was working on a COVID antiviral, would soar, and that the S&P 500 index, which dropped by more than a third early in the pandemic, would fall further.

Those bets were disastrous, and Rinsch lost $5.9 million in just a few weeks.

According to the Times, Rinsch’s erratic behavior intensified during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, which likewise strained millions psychologically

Rinsch’s wife Rosés, a model and fashion designer from Uruguay, is seeking a divorce

His wife Rosés, who has since filed for divorce, went to check on him in June 2020, and says that he took her to a scenic Hollywood lookout and pointed to planes in the sky, telling her they were ‘organic, intelligent forces’ that ‘came to say hi.’

He also sent her texts claiming that he could predict lightning strikes and volcanic eruptions, according to her divorce filings.

Rinsch also began sending odd emails to a Netflix business affairs executive, claiming he had found a way to map ‘the coronavirus signal emanating from within the earth.’

With what was left of the Netflix cash, Rinsch transferred more than $4 million to the Kraken crypto exchange and bought Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on a meme of a Shiba dog that started as a joke.

Unlike his stock option bets, Rinsch profited handsomely off the investment in Dogecoin, which surged in value in 2021 as billionaire Elon Musk touted it on Twitter.

Riding high on his gains, Rinsch wrote in a message to a Kraken customer service rep: ‘Thank you and god bless crypto.’

When he closed out his positions in May 2021, his Kraken account had a balance of nearly $27 million, according to the Times.

Rinsch then went on a buying spree, purchasing the Rolls-Royce fleet and other fine items, and spending a total of $8.7 million, according to a forensic accountant hired by his estranged wife.

The funds involved are now the subject of two disputes: his divorce case with Rosés, and the arbitration with Netflix.

Rosés accuses him of going on the spending spree to shield his crypto winnings from the divorce case. Rinsch responded that the cars and other items were props for his series, and had been purchased with Netflix’s money.

But in arbitration with Netflix, he took a different line, arguing that the money belonged to him, and the Netflix owes him further payments.

Netflix argues that the payments were contingent on the production hitting certain milestones, which were never reached.

The streaming giant has told Rinsch that it will not continue to fund ‘Conquest’ and that he is free to shop the project to another distributor, as long as they reimburse the company for what it has already spent on the show.