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Elizabeth dett Zarren Bennett got a question for you, my girl. Yes, sir, you know it's ridiculous.
Yes, I do.
You're gonna hit a brother with it?
Yeah, I am hit you brother. Okay. So there's this restaurant called New York Fries that, oddly enough, is not located in New York.
Do they sell fries?
Yeah, it's a poutine place, like.
The Canadian It's all over Canada.
Yeah, all over Canada. But then they have all their outside Canada locations are like in UAE and Saudi Arabia and Panama.
It's a brand. New York is a brand in this case. It gets like a stamp of theme.
I guess, because I don't know what New York has to do with any of this.
But they don't sell poutine. I mean, I guess. I'm sure they do somewhere, but New York is not known, not in.
The least as far as I know, the big poutine. So a rude dude on Instagram ep Lovely Canadian pointed this out to me. They're having this twelve days of giveaways thing for the holidays. Okay, up the boxing day Yeah, sure, And on day five. On day five they have some prizes up for grabs and you have to be a Canadian resident that ended December fifteenth, whatevs. So you can win a hot dog dad hat. It just has a hot dog on it. But I guess it's a dad.
Oh it's a dad hat, not a hot dog dad.
I like hot dog dad. A hot dog neon sign a New York Fries loaded dog of choice, sure, because they have hot dogs hot dogs. And then there's this other item, a hot dog water candle.
Wait what candle?
When EP sent this to us, yeah, they circled that part in red. I'm sorry what but I went to I got onto Facebook. You don't have to be a Facebook member to look at this thing, but you can see their post for that day and all the comments have nothing to do with everyone, just like, oh I love a loaded dog.
They just skip past, just like it's a normal thing.
So I was trying to find this. It's from bad candle company hot dog water, and so I thought, okay, where could I get this? Sure to light it goes, sneak into your house and light it. So they have them on. It's a company has them on Etsy twenty five, twenty four ninety nine. The label says hot dog water, but apparently you pick from a drop down menu and it has regular sense. So this it's just the label
that says hot dog water. Right, So like you can pick clean cotton sea salt and orchid white sage and lavender sold out zero and I'm so sorry Apple harvest, which just sounds hilacious. Sorry, bad candle company. And cinnamon vanilla also hilacious to me.
Yeah why run cinnamon and vanilla together just like pick one?
Well, it's like a snickerdoodle.
Oh yeah, yeah, so stop I thought about that. Thanks.
So this bad candle company does hot dog water and it's just the label on the candles. I say, coward, make it into a real disgust.
I don't want to know about this hot dog candle. It's supposed to be floating in the bath of me. Do I create a vibe?
Well it looks like this.
Oh okay, so it's not I was picturing a hot dog shaped candle. It floats on top of the bath.
This is for the folks hot dogs.
Oh you know how they have the roses that you can light and they float.
Do you do that?
Well, you've seen those that do not. I don't even Well, okay, maybe once I was. I just needed a little special me time.
It was in college.
I had a couple four hundred bucks to spend. I dropped it on candles.
I backed it up candles.
Anyway, you know what what's else ridiculous?
Yes, I would love to know what else is ridiculous?
Hollywood? Well, yeah, yeah, you know that place is wild. I told you I used to work there, right, Like I have acted, I did TV shows, I was into movies. I did voice work for a cartoon ide some indie films. I shot music videos. I wrote scripts on spec I polished scripts for others for money. Of course, basically you can say I was an art mercenary, right like I would mark anything for a dollar. And I know I loved it. I love Hollywood and I learned about its
ways with money, and I say, whole awareness. Hollywood is crazy with money. You just stupid with it, right, All the wrong people have the money or they control it. Right. If you stay in that town long enough, you'll surprise yourself with what you will do for money. I mean, just ask anyone hosts a game show. I mean they did not come down there to host a game show anyway. These days people are critical like Nepo babies. You hear a lot of that Nepo babies. Yeah right, And you
make no mistake. Hollywood is a family business. That's one of its secrets. You learn real quick that in the place has a long memory but a quick turnover, which is interesting because you're like, oh, yeah, people come and go, but those who stay they remember right, yeah now, and they also know each other. You have to keep that in mind, right, which is ultimately why it's so hard to run a long con or become like a real good scammer in Hollywood. Oh okay, but it happens, of course.
I mean, of course it happens often. It happens often, right, but usually those If you want to work as a scammer on Hollywood, you have to milk all the newcomers and all the egotists who just they don't know any about it, but they will pay you to tell them. You still have a chance to make it right right now. I know this all sounds a little dark and little sad. I'm sorry about that, but Hollywood it's a sunlit in no war town.
Right.
You didn make no mistake. So, Elizabeth, you ready to talk Hollywood.
Crime, Zarin, Yes I am.
We're gonna get stupid with it. Three two one action. This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heights and cons. It's oh, is ninety nine percent murder free and ridiculous.
I like captain.
Thank you now for this story, Elizabeth. A few different rude dudes send in this as a suggestion, this first one. Okay, thank you for that, all of you. Please keep them coming. We always dig your suggestions. Now, Elizabeth, I'd like you to meet Carl Eric Rinch.
Carl Eric Rinch, Rinch like.
R I N S c H. Not like a wretch wrench Yeah, no nch. Now he's been in newslately. You may have seen his name because he's been accused of ripping off Netflix. Oh, good for him, wasting their money on crypto and like on dope rides.
Yeah, is this why they can't pay writers?
Pretty much? This is where the money is going. So the New York Times they covered this saga recently with a November twenty second story rip from the headlines, Elizabeth Now. The story was entitled quote the Strange fifty five million dollar saga of a Netflix series you'll never see.
Well that that's a large category.
For you in particular.
Yes, well, yeah, because I don't watch television, but don't they make Like aren't there tons of shows that get made but never make.
It to air? Uh? For studios, Yes, the streamers didn't do that as much. This is kind of a big misstep.
For they stand correct.
Yeah, the studios have like you know, pilot season where they make a bunch of shows they test them the link to put the money into like one episode and try it maybe even two. But with streamers, they made a whole series. Okay, they shot the series and you're not going to see the series. Wow.
Yeah, because I know people who're like, yeah, I'm in this TV show. It might be made. I've done a couple episodes, but then it never makes Yeah.
Yeah, now that's that's very old traditional Hollywood. Now we're into oh new dumb money. Right. So anyway, the writer John Kerry, he did a fantastic job. Check out the story. He tracks all the mini twist turns of jaw dropping revelations. All right, So anyway, who is Carl Eric Rinch? I love to know all right, How did he get Netflix to give him fifty five million bucks? It's great question, Elizabeth. Did you see the Cannu Reeves movie forty seven ronin?
Yes you did, Yes, they did.
What did you think of it?
Vague memories. I'll just watch anything with Cannon Reeves in it.
I know that about. That's why I guess you have seen this.
Yeah, I've seen it, but golly, it was a while ago.
Okay, well Carl Rinch he directed it.
Oh you're kidding.
Yeah, that's what I guess he's calling card movie. It was an astounding bomb at the box office.
Yeah, the studio. I was alone in the theater.
Or you I've been to a lot of movies where I was alone or with the one person I brought with me, and I have to apologize. I'm like, well, or we're going to be in for a great show. It's just us so intimate. Anyway, studio had to write off a loss of one hundred and seventy five million bucks. Wow, that's what they lost. Yeah, ign I went to look for reviews because I saw this, but I didn't see it in the theater. I saw it like on HBr
or whatever. Yeah, it's not really a fair way to see a movie, in my opinion, if you're going to review it, I mean you can't, but you don't get the full effect or what the filmmaker intended. Right, So IGN they saw it in the theaters and they gave it a six point one out of ten.
That's better than fifty percent.
That would be a D in school.
That would be now.
In their review of forty seven, Row and IGN described the film as quote a serviceable action movie that fails to either capture the emotional essence of the titular tale or bring anything genuinely fresh, invigorating, or memorable to its rendition, which is pretty much your review. I don't really.
Remember, really remember exactly now.
After further disparaging the film, reviewer conclude and I quote mildly entertaining and gorgeous to look at, forty seven Rownan has little beneath the surface to recommend it. There are a few good fights, though, well hey, yeah, that's actually how I described the city of Pittsburgh. Mildly entertaining and gorgeous to look.
At, and some fights.
So that's Philadelphia, that's anyway. So how does a filmmaker with one film to his name a film that lost its studio one hundred and seventy five million dollars and has reviews like this mildly entertaining, gorgeous to look at. How does he convince Netflix to give him a fresh fifty five mil.
Well, here's another question I have for you. I've heard that sometimes studios will make bombs on purpose in order to get that as a write off as a loss.
They will write off what they think is a bomb, but they won't make a bomb to lose money. But if once it's being made they realize he's going bad, then they start that process. Okay, So that's why you'll hear like films like the Boondock Saints guy when he there's a documentary about himHe Harvey Weinstein just tanks his movie because he does not personally like him, and he's making the movie for Harvey Weinstein, which is a terrible mistake to turn on the producer of your film, regardless
of part of why he seems a terrible person. I'm just saying it's bad business. This guy comes into Hollywood, he's like, Oh, I'm gonna be the man, right, and he learns a terrible lesson, which is you do not piss off the one man that controls if your movie goes to theaters.
Yeah.
So yeah, he was willing to tank it because he can write it off as a loss. So they always have that option. Okay, right, and that's why you see it currently being done. But that guy for Wonder Brothers and is an idiot, like I'm not going to get anyway. The answer is Elizabeth market dynamics, baby dynastics. Why let's see, I put it into market speak, so you know all about supply and demand, right, and now in twenty eighteen, the streamers, they tried to meet this growing demand for
new films and series. So what do they do? They go, oh, we don't know what's good, so let's just throw insane amounts of money at things. Right. I don't know, I guess that was the answer. Yeah, right. So Carl Rinch, he had a series to pitch at this time, perfectly timed for him, the streamers were eager to take a meeting. His project is this sci fi series about artificial humans that will eventually turned on their human creator. Everybody loves that.
Takes a whirlwind series of meetings. He goes over to Jeff Bezos' company because Amazon is getting into it, the Amazon Prime stuff. They offer him an eight figure agreement to bring the series to Amazon. Wow, yeah, Netlow, here's about this and they're like, uh oh baby. Before Rinch could put pen to paper on the Amazon deal, Netflix backed up the money truck and offered the filmmaker even
more cash. So he gets an eight figure offer. Now they call him at home on a Sunday and Netflix not only offered him money, they offered him control, which is whatever the filmmaker wants, right, So they offer the filmmaker creative control, which means he gets final cut. He you know, that's huge, Like you have to be like, you know, like James Cameron to get final cut. Anyway, Netflix puts in writing that he would also be attached to any future spin offs or reboots. He's locked into
the series. Yeah yeah, right, so he's like stan Lee on This World or whatever. Anyway, so the final deal fifty five million. They offer him that big paycheck. It made business headlines, but it also apparently made business sense at the time because Netflix, in that capitalist way, that their new show would spawn a whole creative universe. Right,
this is an initial investment. His ideas got legs right. So, now, armed with this unheard level of control, the promise of future involvement a huge payday, what does Carl Rinch do?
Does not make the show.
He opted to never finish a single episode, instead just pocket the money. So, according to many of those who cared for him or were close to him, as soon as he signed the deal with Netflix, it goes like a switch was hit. He just just changed immediately, just and whatever occurred inside of him, he was a new Carl Rinch multimillionaire. So it's not like you started big timing people. I don't mean that he I mean he did do that, but what I mean is more like
he became untethered from reality a right. So, for instance, he began to tell people that he could predict when and where lightning strikes would occur.
Wait, yes, okay, yes.
And also he discovered that how COVID nineteen was being transmitted via a secret conduit of nature. Oh it wasn't He Also he grew extremely, like a really overconfident about his ability to discern patterns in the stock market. So he took a bunch of Netflix's money and he dropped it onto the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq and so forth, and you know, then he also he bought a bunch
of crypto, because that's another good bet. He bought himself a Rolls Royce because now he needs to roll around town looking like you know, clean bought himself a new wardrobe. Same reason. He became that guy in Hollywood, like the old film producer.
Yeah, it sounds like almost like it that that money payday triggered a mild psychosis.
I think, so yeah, I'm thinking it's like something just either he'd always wanted this and finally now he just released. You know, I always talk about like pulling back the bowstring on a bow, right, having that arrow, just all that tension, all of a sudden, the money released it. That arrow is flying. So now wherever it's going is where it's going, right anyway, So he's got all the trappings, all the tastes of outside success with none of the work.
Yeah, right, sounds great.
He found the secret, Elizabeth, they talked about the secret. This is the secret, not anyway, but of course the eventually we come court proceedings. So he didn't really find the secret. But whatever, if you can believe it, Carl Wrinch, he took Netflix to court. He's the one.
Oh he did.
Yeah, that's right. He's suing them right now, me sue you? Yeah, So what's his reason? How could he possibly? He says they didn't.
Give him enough money, that's why he didn't make it.
He claims that Netflix needs to give him another fourteen million.
Dollars in order to finish this.
Hey man, I don't know. Anyway, he says, they're contractually obligated. That's what he's saying. So obviously, Netflix's legal response was are you fing high? Like? How do we owe you money? Are you for real? Right now? The long those but in legal tras, Okay, I don't know how you put that in. It was like party of the first part, are you fing high? Party of the second part? Something like that. Anyway, how do we get here? How does how did this dude end up being the one suing Netflix?
How does he have such brass one? I am desperate to know Hollywood, baby. Now, there's another key component of Hollywood we haven't discussed yet. It's a big part of the machines function. We call it hype.
The yeah that you can convince people that things are me.
Runs on it. Yeah, yeah, exactly, you know, walking around nude, going look at me baby. Now, some folks they learn how to manipulate hype to their benefit. That brings us to mister Wrench was his real secret. So before we dive into his backstory, let's take a little break. Now that I've wet your whistle, we'll get back and see how these millions get spent. All right, Elizabeth, Yes, sir, we're back, ready for some backstory. I'll keep it on
all film like you know. We're gonna the backstory now, Okay, let's see if.
Confier the prequel exactly.
Let's see if a good fare ferret out some answers to this man's audacity. There's gotta be some reason he's doing it. Can't just be purely psychosis or what is driving the psychosis? What is here anyway? Carl Rinch born in sunny San Fernando Valley, just over the hill from Hollywood. Exactly. He's like Tim Burton. He's like looking over the hill this whole time, dreaming about one day. Anyway, and his teens, he shot little films once again, like Tim Burton or Spielberg.
Another one he went off to one of the Ivys for college who went to Brown University after school, flies back to la starts his film career. Everything so far going apace. He gets a job working for Ridley Scott. Boom boom boom. Yeah, he gets to work for his production company, but the one that mostly shoots commercials. A lot of the most film directors they have a production company that shoots commercials, and that's a great way to get your start. Film people working for those people shooting
their commercials. They have to make money.
Some true crime documentary that I can't recall recently, you know my memory, but I remember it was produced by Ridley Scott.
No, he doesn't, all, yeah, totally. He's like I'm saying, the filmmakers are way more than just the stuff you see. They have to now. I mean, he has become an urgent need for the longest time, like all of them, Steven Soderberg, they all like shoot commercials on the side or have a production company that handles stuff. Yeah, you know. Anyway, So point being around this time, folks note that Carl Rench he had an interesting pass that he would describe.
He always kept it in mysterious terms. Right. He said his father had been a spy. He said he grew up in Africa. This gave him a certain international air here. Right, So in twenty ten he shoots his own film. Finally things start to work for him. It's a commercial though, for the company Phillips, the European company. Right, so the short it's a short film, but it's an ad anyway. It wins an award at CON's but not the CONS
Film Festival, the cons Advertising Festival. But if he wins, all right, So this paves his way into a Hollywood director seat. Boom boom boom. First project, he picks forty seven ronin film Yeah, look great, but it had no heart, no center. We've covered that right. One of the producers, Scott Stuber, he battled this first time director and tried to bring him to heal and at some point Rynch he gets barred from the editing bay, like he loses
control of his film. Yeah, the film it premiered on Christmas Day in twenty thirteen, and as we can covered, Colossal Failure loses one hundred and seventy five million smash cut five years later.
Well and Christmas Day is like an important opening, like, well, you know that's a film that they believe it they're putting a big marketing in like August.
No exactly, A good call, thank you, no smash cut. Five years later, after making commercials for a few years, Rinch now finds himself back in the good graces of Hollywood. He's worked his way back to he makes really pretty pictures. You know, maybe he can direct anyway, but not the film studios because remember, like I said, long memory, it's now the new streamers and they're looking for stuff. His stuff looks good. They're like this, this guy's great.
Well, they're like tech disruptors. They're going to try and do it. They think they're going to do it in a better way that's already been proven to.
And they love a shiny thing that moves fast, so the wrench. At this point, he's married. He's got an Uruguayan fashion designer, model Gabriella. Now together they came up with this new idea for the series and she's his creative partner. The story it focused on the new species called quote organic intelligence. Okay, so this is oh I all right? So they originally they're there designed to respond compassionately and efficiently to humanitarian crises, disasters, human needs of
all kinds, the new species. Of course, so eventually turns on us, and you know, and they try to wipe out humanity, and of course the idea being that we cause all the problems that OI must fix. So the solution's obvious, fix the problem with the source. So anyway you can hear the sci fi potential. It's like Battlestar Galactica meets I Robots. Okay, right, So potential buyers they could see that for themselves. They're like, oh, dollar signs, boom,
I love this now, Rinch. He ends up. He pays for a small shoot to make sure that they can really see the potential, not just hear the idea and imagine the potential, but see it moving and looks slick and sexy. He hires European actors and actresses. They shoot footage in far flowing places Kenya, Romania. The shoots they were punishing, one actor allegedly caught hypotherbia had to be hospitalized.
He runs a rough set from what I understand. So despite the difficulties setbacks, Rinch he believes in his projects. He seeks help. He turns over to thirty West. That's a production company. It's run by a billionaire mmmm. Anyway, billionaire's name is Dan Freakin. Money gets advanced, project goes on and then Rinch. He misses a deadline. He misses another deadline, freaking in his company thirty West. They're like, it's our project now, and they started trying to, like,
you know, claim to it. They threaten over to seize the project, take it over, you know, the bond company or whatever. That all the stuff you hear, So Rinch. He turns an old friend for help. Enter Keanu reech Man is like a living like Labrador retriever, you know what I mean. He's just so good.
He's a very good friend of mine. Yes, and I say that because if you say things enough, it manifest totally. So one day I will be good friends with Keanu Reeed.
There you go. You're gonna make it. It's gonna happen. So your close personal friend counter Reep. Yes, as you know, sweetheart. He comes on board as a producer, invests in his friends project. Things start looking good again. He helps him make his deadlines. He now picks up the money gaps. Everything works resuming. Six shorts are produced. They're all like four to ten minutes long, so you can get an idea. This is what he takes to Amazon and Netflix and Apple TV.
A sizzle reel. Is that what that is?
No, it's a little smaller, but this will be like basically, you're showing them the potential and you want to show that you really invested. So yeah, you've created kind of like a spec project.
Yeah, just a little peak exactly. So this is what he used. Just kills me.
Those are a little shorter, a couple of minutes long. They show you that anyway, So he starts a bidding war. They're all excited. The project looks amazing, ok I said, everybody big money. Netflix wins a bidding more. They immediately renamed the project con Quest whatever. This is now over at this point where in November twenty eighteenth.
What was it originally named?
He didn't really have a name for it. He talks about the organic intelligence okay, right, and you had like he wanted it to be something other than Conquest.
That sounds like a sixties seventies television show one hour procedural.
Yeah, no, I only liked it when the Jack White did it as a song like that's yeah, definitely. But anyway, the streamer planned to debut in the new series twenty twenty two. He's got basically three years to make it because it's November twenty eighteen at this point. They want to release it in twenty twenty two, plenty of time to make the whole series. Meanwhile, working at Netflix is
Rynch's old producer, Scott Stuber. Yeah right, he's in the movie division at Netflix, though not the team serious division, so no one asked him what he thought of the deal. He didn't hear about it. Of course, his opinion probably would have saved them a lot of money, so the streamers, they don't benefit from Hollywood's long memory. Instead of the project gets greenlit, Netflix wired Rinch the money to get started, and the project now known as Conquest. It starts shooting
in Brazil. Not only that, it has multiple international locales. You got people far flung. There's shoots in Budapest, Hungary, locations in Uruguay. I guess so she can see your family. I don't know any As a shoot goes, Netflix starts to hear complaints, accusations, So backchatter right. The filmmaker Rinch is apparently he's angered the unions. The union reps report to that Rinch has been quote mistreating the team, and he has been quick with the cursing and shouts and
other expressions of excessive irritation. So Netflix they contact Rinch. They're like, hey, man, calm down the unit. We don't need this. Yeah, exactly, all right, so I meanwhile, back on set, Rynch is spiraling. At this point in Buddapest, he accuses his wife of hiring assassins to have him killed. H oh yeah, his things are going bad, right, so Netflix has no idea. But anyway, in response, he starts gobbling up the ants or vy ants, the pills. They
it's a type of prescribed amphetamine. Huh yeah. So the side effects of this drug ar mania, delarium, psychosis. It's just a winner drug, you know. Just so it's like throwing fire on top of already blazing fire, not just get and then like you threw some gasoline in just because you want to see the two really get along. So so now that he's like, you know, claiming his wife's trying to have assassins kill him, she reaches out to family, friends, people who care about him. They decide,
let's doge an intervention. Good you know, good for them, right if you sometimes, Oh yeah, I've had to be there. And now, despite his allegations that she's trying to have him assassinated, wife lovingly does this right. She invites Kana Reeves to come and talk to his old friend. He shows up, like, I said, good guy. Now they together, they all convinced Rinch he needs to go to rehab. He needs to accept help, right, he needs to get his life back together while he has this project going.
He says, you're you know what, guys, I got too much work right now to do all that, all that rehab you're talking about. Yeah, but how about this. I will hire a sober companion and I will just have like a one man rehab move around with me, and they'll keep me. This is like what Judge John Belushi did at the end. He actually had a I think it was Joe Walsh from the Eagles as his sober compaign.
My god. Anyways, like the last person.
This is guys supposed to keep him on the right path. Right. So a few days later he fires a sober companion. He's like, I can't hang with this guy. He won't let me get high. You know whatever. I don't know, he said. Now. In a few months later, COVID hits. So now his production gets shut down for a moment, they take a pause. He tried to figure out how they're gonna move on. Eventually the productions get back to work with masks and regulations and so forth. He's still
finishing this series on a twenty twenty two deadline. Nothing has changed about that. Netflix is like, we gave you the money, but give us a show.
Yeah.
So at this point, Netflix has sunk forty four million dollars to the series. They've they've left out a little bit, you know, for finishing funds or for the back half. I don't know what the payment schedule was. Anyway. Rinch also at this point has blown numerous deadlines. Once again, he's back on you know, hey, what's the deadline? So what is dude? What do you think? Netflix says when Rinch comes to them and says a need more money. This is not him now later suing, but in the
process he goes, hey, I need more money. They say, well, can we see a script? What are we dealing with? They don't even know what he's shooting. So the series, which they'd originally agreed to, was planned to be thirteen episodes long. So now Rinch wants to make it twice as long, so with a second season. So Netflix is like, yeah, okay, sure, we'll send you more.
Money about second season.
Right, Well, this case, they actually go for it. They're like, oh that's fine, Yeah, we like it second season. So they send him more money, I mean like a lot more money. They send him eleven million dollars.
Wow.
They wire him the cash. What does he do with it? He needed this money. He pulls it out of the escrow account and he invested in crypto in the stock market.
Oh my god.
He drops ten point five million of the eleven million dollars into his sh Charles Schwab account, and he decides to play the options market, because that's always a saft. No. He places a bunch of risky bets. For instance, he buys shares of a Gilliad Sciences. Well that was not bad good, Yeah, a good call, right, But he's convince they're about to make a bundle on a new anti viral COVID drug, but others beat them to market, so
he lost a bunch. He also bet on Standard and Poors indecks the S and P five hundred.
Yeah.
A few weeks later he'd lost five point nine million of the eleven million. At this point, he also loses his wife. So she's like, what I've had it up to here. I tried the intervention. Now you get the money, we get the project going. What do you do you buy?
And so he sat through an intervention.
Oh yeah, total yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, not fun.
No.
In June twenty twenty, wife and Rinch they try to make a last dish. Can we pull the marriage and this project We've worked so hard? Can we get them all back on road? They take a drive through the Hollywood Hills. They're up thereack on maul Holland and he's gazing down at the city below, and then he looks up at the planes above and he tells his wife that those are not planes, those are UFOs and they're actually quote organic intelligent forces and they he's communicating with them, and she's.
Like, oh oh, he's still popping them pills.
Yes. Around the same time he texts his wife he shows a little secret. This is when he tells her he's like, hey, baby, you know I can predict a lightning strikes. You just want to be careful coming up right. And he's also, I now can predict volcanoes. So he's moving on. Yeah, he's got you know, volcanology under his belt. And so in July, his wife's like, Okay, I want to divorce you. This is rap. Not only that she informs Netflix that her husband is unhinged because he's our
business partner. They're cheaesy on so she's like, he's on balance, he's unlikely to finish the production. Netflix exacts are like, huh uh, we had noticed some strange behavior. Now, when I say strange behavior, they had received emails where he's like, quote, the coronavirus signal is emanating from within the earth. And they're like, yeah, that is kind of some strange behavior. But you know how creatives are, so yeah, and uh,
things get better if you will, or worse. However, you want to look at it for Netflix because you might think this would spell the beginning of the end of this project at Netflix. One. We think they were going to put this into turn and around, like they're going to put a pause on it. You would be wrong.
Why because of the high turnover. Remember I mentioned earlier. Well, Netflix reshuffled its executives and they got rid of the executive who'd brought the project in and they and the one who sent them all the money she leaves Netflix.
Yeah.
So at this point, the new executive who's now in charge of Kong quest can we see the footage, because like I'm now in charge, And his wife's like, oh yeah, he's got the footage. And if I ask him for that, he may do things you don't. He may come down to your office. You don't want that, right, And they're like really, and he's like, oh yeah, he's fully paranoid delusional, Like oh okay, well that's cool. Then. So Netflix sikes
the other route. They informed the production that they're going to need their money back, so they like, can we get our fifty five mil back? And so at this point is now March twenty twenty one, and things have changed for the streaming wars the subscribers. At this point, the numbers installed in some cases hard need to go down.
As New York Times reported, Netflix came to the conclusion quote after a lot of time and effort, he became clear that mister Rinch was never going to complete the project he'd agreed to make, and so we wrote the project off. They went the round of you're now attacks right off? Yeah. Yeah, So the streamer informed Gabriella and thus Wrench that they were free to shop the project around.
Oh really yeah, and if they can find a new buyer, the new acquirer will have to give us fifty five million dollars.
Right.
Oh, So that did not sit well with Carl Rinch, So he sends back a flurry of hotly worded emails. All right, and he addressed the elephant in the room, his sanity, and he wrote to Netflix to state it simply, I am of sound mind and body. At the point you're telling people that in an email, I'm just gonna say that if.
You have to try and argue the fact that you know you got it together.
And you're not telling it in person, you're doing it in email, it's like ten times worse good. Anyway. So to his credit, he was looking crazy, but crazy like a fox. You see. While he lost a ton in the stock market, he also made a huge windfall on his crypto bed Oh yeah, because he purchased a bunch of doge coin and he invested four million dollars into doge coin. But it turned out I guess this is what an elon was helping to pump and dump it.
He sold off his holdings. His four million had bloomed into twenty seven million wow hours on the come up.
So did he pull it out?
Oh? Yeah, he pulled it out and he wrote in some crypto forum I found He's like, thank you and God blessed crypto. So at this point he could have paid Netflix at least half of their money back. So what does he do, Elizabeth? He remember he's getting divorced, right, So what does he do?
Oh he pays nothing to anybody?
Yeah, exactly. So, as soon to be ex wife Gabriella, she hired a forensic accountant who unearthed the whole trail of where all the money went, because it wasn't like he was hiding it. Well, so, according to The New York Times, Wrench purchased quote five rolls royces a ferrari a, three hundred and eighty seven thousand, six hundred and thirty dollars Vacheron Constantine watch and millions of dollars worth of high end furniture and designer clothing wow final sum eight
point seven million dollars. To his wife's lawyers, he claimed that the money was not his and that this the cars, the wardrobe, even the watch the furniture. They were all props for conquests and thus they belonged to Netflix and they cannot be part of any divorce agreement.
Well, then the Netflix is like, can we have it back?
Exactly? Mean. On his arbitration with Netflix's lawyers, he argued that the money is his and that not only that, Netflix is contractually obligated to owe him fourteen more million dollars. So Netflix's lawyers held the position, we disagree, and at this point the parties are They're still in court. So in July this year, Netflix's lawyers argued that any Money's promised to wrench were contingent on his meeting production scheduled deadlines,
which he's thus far blown or ignored. Personally, I'm betting on Netflix to win this one. What do you think, Elizabeth?
I would second that.
Now, since we don't have closure on this story, I thought i'd share another tale of con artist who tried to finesse Netflix for millions. Only this next cat he pretended he was in business with Netflix so he could convince investors that he had their back. Now, how do you think that played out? I'll give you a hint. He's on this show. So let's take a little break and we'll be right back and I'll tell you the story of Adam Joyner.
All right, Elizabeth, Yes, Aaron, we're back.
Yes, Elizabeth, I'd like you to meet my friend and neighbor, Adam Joyner.
Hi, Adam, that's not real, it's familiar.
Yeah, I don't know. Maybe you know I covered this guy's story as a journalist and maybe you heard me talking about it in the past. I went to court and I sat there as he had to face justice. Yeah, I got to watch his moments, right, and having seen his old vibe in person, I'm super surprised that he thought he could pull this off. I'm just saying that, right anyway, Adam Johner, dude thirty eight to forty one throughout this right, So anyway, late thirties, early forties, Okay,
So he was your typical Hollywood hopeful, right. He came to town with an idea for a film, and he firmly believed he just needed to find a few investors, a Hollywood insider, someone who give him a chance, someone who could shepherd his film through the production process, and then boom, boom boom, he'd be the newest Hollywood hit filmmaker, right the success story Now, Adam Joiner is from my neck of the woods. He went to Oakmont High School
in Roseville, California. He had graduated in nineteen ninety six. He started out life not far from my hometown of Davis. Reading about this cat, he reminded me of dudes that I grew up with. I felt like I know this guy, right. So anyway, Adam Joyner has his idea for a film. We'll let you know. That's not right. It was his
brother's idea. His brother had an idea for a film, and his brother wrote up a feature script for this story he called Legends, and according to IMDb, the would be film was going to be an anachronistic mashup of legendary and historical figures from nineteenth century America, such as Davy Crockett, Calamity Jane, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry. Yeah, it's a lot right, Do with that what you will.
But as far as ideas go, it's kind of cute, you know, and as an elevator pitch, it leaves you wondering, well, what would that even look like? What would that be? Which is what you want from a good pitch and it kind of sounds like a film anyway. So September four, twenty fourteen, Adam Joyner incorporates a production company, Dark Planet Pictures, and then he goes looking for money. One year later he gets look. He meets a man who takes them seriously.
And this man's name is John Yee. Now, John Yee is he works for a Korean investment firm. He was curious about this film project and he's like, this sounds like this could go it's got legs and Joiners like, oh yeah, totally man. So this is because Joiner is lying to him right, and he's telling him he has a distribution agreement with Netflix, and he's just looking for investors. None of the guys sparking to his idea, He's sparking
to the conditions of his idea. Yes, now he is intrigued, and he approaches an investment guy he knows Paul Huh and his buddy Paul works at Korea Investment Partners Company or KIP, and there who ends up investing in this project and projects like this. I've worked with Korean investors like this. So paulha He's located in Korea Joiners in California.
They primarily talk over emails a few phone calls. September ninth, twenty sixteen, Joiner emails Paul and hefors him quote, things have begun to pick up steam with Netflix as a potential investor in the film. I have another meeting with them this week. Now that sets the hook. Three days later, he emails them again. He gives a little yank on the line. He writes to Paul on Netflix, had another good meeting with them yesterday and expect to receive a
contract from them by the end of the week. So none of this is true or even remotely likely to come true. It was what we in the story industry call a lie. Now, what I've been in this position, like I not the lying part, but I've been in business was Korean investors. In fact, the company that helped start. We merged with a Korean company. I know these investors very well. A lot of paperwork and due diligence is done. They're not fly by the night, at least it was
the case for us. Now we had distribution deals in place, so we had to show them this. We had to email. We did exactly what he pretends to do now. In terms of independent, non studio backed Hollywood distribution deals go, I'm not sure if you're familiar with them. It often
plays out like this. A production company will secure a distribution deal with domestic or possibly foreign distributors before a single frame has been shot, before actors have been cast anything, and then the company will they take this guaranteed distribution agreement around to like groups of dentists or whatever, and they raise money and then they're willing to kick on on this high risk investment. And then once you get the movie going, the studios will then come along and
purchase that. That's how an indie film gets picked up. So do you make the movie up with other people's money and then studio basically recoups and now the investors get that first bit and then they also get will get money if it goes to theaters, so it's good for them, but not all movies get picked up, so they're betting on you can get it through the process. So it wasn't unusual for Joinder to be doing business
the way he's doing it. Right, the Korean investors are like, sure, okay, so show us the deal if you have a deal. He did not have a deal now. He hoped his lives would eventually catch up to reality. That was I
think his goal now. The in Korean investors they were going to wire him millions of dollars for a production, so they asked for confirmation of the deal with Netflix, and Paul wrote to Joiner, per our conversation, please ask someone at Netflix affects it again tomorrow and also send it to the gmail's account below from Netflix domain email. Very clear at this point joyners so close to the money he can practically smell it. So he just needs to send over one email, and so he does. April seven,
twenty sixteen, a fax arrives in Korea. The cover letter says that it serves two quote confirm and agreement between Netflix Inc. And Dark Planet Pictures LLC. Executed on March thirty first, twenty six team. The facts is signed by a man with the title of Vice President Business and Legal Affairs, Content Acquisition for Netflix. Okay, right, And to further seal the deal, Joiner forwards an email from this same Netflix executive. The email arrives send from a Netflix
email domain. In the forwarded email is the distribution agreement and it's signed by a third Netflix executive billed as the chief content officer. It all looks legit, right, not that hard to fake though, I can just tell you that right now. Yes, So to fully set the hook, Joiner forwards an email from a second Netflix executive, also from a Netflix domain account, obviously, and the exec says, looking forward to making this movie.
Wait, so he's forwarding. They're notrect forwarding emails.
So due to the opaque nature of business in Hollywood, Paul and his Korean investment firms they can't really confirm who these Netflix are and who would be involved, who would be in charge. So they're relying on these forwarded email chains for veracity, and also the faxes and the signed distribution. It looks pretty good on paper. When there's a bunch of them together in conglomerate, it looks legitimate. Day of deliberation later, the Korean investment firm signs an
investment deal with Joiner. The investment is eight million dollars. A week later, the first half of the investment is wired to Joiner's bank account. He's now got four million dollars in his Bank of America account.
And nothing to show now now and he's done it.
He's conned his way into millions of dollars. He's got four more on the backside coming in eventually. Keep in mind, this is a married man, father of three girls. And the crimes he's engaging in wirefraud of you know, false accounting, so forth, this maximum sentence of twenty years behind bars in federal prison. He's setting himself up for Oh god, at this moment though, he's not thinking about any of that, because he's got four million dollars of other people's money. Elizabeth,
April fifteenth, ironically twenty sixteen, aka tax Day. Joiner takes a trip down to the bank and he withdraws eight hundred thousand dollars and he transferred it to a little joint account he and his wife's share. Oh cute.
Not make a nice trail there exactly.
Not a business account either. So now that he's tasted success from his con job, Joiner wants more. He goes back. He double dips. He approaches a second set of foreign investors, this time Chinese investors. Could the scam work twice? Elizabeth, oh Man, you better believe it did, baby. He contacts Star Sentry Pictures Company Limited, which is an affiliate of PGA Young Park Capital Limited and which is in itself
an investment firm in the People's Republic of China. So, using the same fraudulent paperwork he used to scam the Korean investors, Joiners able to peel an additional six million out of his new Chinese investors. Wow, he now has ten million dollars of other people's money parked in his bank accounts, with four million to come. Adam, Joiner has done it, and now he feels like an official Hollywood play a baby, so he starts to live like it. Elizabeth,
you just conned foreign investors out of ten million. What would you do with it?
Mmmm? Hide it somewhere I don't know, Swiss bank account I disappear. They're gonna come and get you.
Yes, yeah, Well it's the summer twenty sixteen at this point, so there's plenty of stuff to buy, plenty of stuff to enjoy, very pre COVID. Everybody's like out. So what does Joiner spend his lud on? You get loose with it? Well, rather than tell you about it, Elizabeth, I would like you to close.
Your eyes, my eyes a close and picture it.
Elizabeth, you are a Southern California realtor, one who sells homes in the Manhattan Beach area. It's a Saturday, one of your busiest days of the week. You're at your third home tour of the day. At the moment, you're standing on the second floor deck, the gentle ocean breeze thrills against your cheek as the seabirds sound in the distance. The married couple on the second floor patio with you a whisper between themselves. After you hear their whispers fall silent,
you gracefully turn. You ask the pair, mister and missus Joyner, can you imagine stepping out onto this patio, filling your lungs with that ocean air and enjoying the fruits of all of your hard work. The husband looks at his wife. His smile is wide proud. He replies, I sure can now. The house is one of your long daddy's you're hoping to move soon? Yeah, This Manhattan Beach dream home is four two hundred and sixty five square feet to poast, five bedrooms and five baths. The price tag for this
beauty five point three five million dollars. Pictures don't do the place justice. Also, the all white on white with touches of slate and gray. That decor that wasn't your idea. But anyway, that said, here are a few picks so you could describe what you're looking at in realitor terms, like could you sell me on this Elizabeth for sure?
Well, I happen to have the description of the dream home from Zillow. You know I love Zillo. Inside this California dream beach house, you discover that the ground floor features a large family room, secluded bathroom, suite, mudroom, and three car garage. The second level showcases a striking vaulted beam ceiling, great room with fireplace, private office, gourmet kitchen with top of the line appliances, dining nook, walk in butler's pantry, cozy den with fireplace, and a barbecue deck.
Okay, you got my attention. I'm listening, but I like the joiners. I'm still on the fence. Make me want to wire my money?
Okay. Located in the heart of Old Manhattan, the hidden gem of the Sand Section, this peaceful enclave is the only area of MB that offers tree lines, eats, with sidewalks and parking on both sides of the street. The ideal northwest corner lot location allows for abundant full day natural light, panoramic hill section views, and a beautiful bank of lush landscaping along the eastern sideyard.
Yes, talk that talk, you know what. I think that Really the key is if you're paying five point five mil, you want trees on both sides of the streets. I mean, come on that right, Okay, Well, here's what the houses look like in full living color. Feasts your eyes on that.
From the outside, it just looks like a steamship, like a paddle boat. Steamer on that totally. And then those are bushes. Those aren't trees.
Exack. It looks like Tyler Perry designed this place.
I would like to see a cluttered for like rich people.
And he's like, here, I think this is what rich people like. No, it's not good. Well, anyway, As the tour of the dream beach home nears its end, you take a read of the couple. You can't tell if they're into it or not. Back downstairs, you point out the ground level patio and casually compliment the perspective buyer. You say, with a smile in your voice, do you seem like the kind of husband would really appreciate having your own barbecue deck. Missus Joyner shares a look with
her husband. They both smile a conspiratorial grin. Seems you hit your mark to seal the deal, you say, and Missus Joyner, if I'm guessing right, I'm betting you may want to keep some of the all white furniture. She nods enthusiastically. Sure, looks like you've made your saal, Elizabeth. So you go for broke and you say, if you guys want to make it official, like right now with an offer. I happen to have a bottle of champagne in the fridge and some champagne flutes. Shall I do
the honors? After you call your office with their offer on the dream beach house, you all cheers.
I hate myself.
Well you did it, Elizabeth. You just help the Joiners spend their ill gotten games.
You got two kids? Are going to keep the all white interior?
Oh yeah, look, we not three boys, so anyway to purchase girls can be messy too. Don't get me wrong, but for everybody. I'm not a PA. But from everything I hear, you have three boys.
One of them is a toddler.
Oh yeah, forget about it. Oh yeah, no, forget about for sure. I mean, I don't mean to be like, you know, undercutting the kind of.
Messes just as messy as a man.
You are, right, more so, yes, even more so. Now, three weeks after all of this, he was wired six million from his Chinese investors, Star Century. So Joiner pulled that money back out immediately and he transferred one hundred and sixty thousand, five hundred to his California investor escrow company. Then that was a deposit on the home he just bought from you. Wow, was deposit one hundred and sixty thousand. That was like just a little old this this is mine. Yeah, it wasn't a down payment.
It's like honestly, and I don't care what it's called.
What I don't get is it. Sure seems like even though he's now fully blowing his wad of other people's money on a home for his family, it seems like Adam Joyner still planned to make his movie Legends because he started to reach out some real hitters like enter the true Hollywood players, Elizabeth, Yeah, this cat, No, he's already circling. No, not in this story, the cat. The Joiner approach to make his Dreams Comes true? Is this
dude named Don Murphy. Now, if you're deep into film history, you know Don Murphy, but unlikely for most other people. Just explain it. Joiner plans to pay Don Murphy to shepherd his film forward and make the necessary connections and introductions to Hollywood heavyweights. Right. So Don Murphy is one of those like like gruff, old school producer types, right, they kind of used to like stink of cigars. And he'd produce Natural Born Killers for a Oliver Stone. Right.
In fact, he'd taken the script from a young Quentin Tarantino who was trying to break into Hollywood at this point, and he convinced Oliver Stone to come aboard and to direct it. So he gets him. He does, He makes it, much to Tarantino's dismay and because he lost control, and that's where he started being like, I'm gonna lock down everything. Anyway. Don Murphy later went on to produce movies for Michael Bay.
He's that kind of guy. Oh okay, So Adam Joyner contacts Don Murphy's like I want to blow stuff up, you know, like I got money, what do we do? And he's like, so he asked them do for me what you did for Tarantino. Like, now, Don Murphy's like, sure, kid, but it'll cost you a million dollars. Specifically, he's had one point two billion dollars. Okay, no, I Actually he's some cigar chomping seventy year old. This dude is a gen X producer. He was like born in nineteen sixty seven.
So Joiner's stoke. They're close enough in age they get each other. So he sends an update to his investors. He tells Paul that he quote was expecting to secure Don Murphy by this Friday to be our quote name producer for the film. Don has done all the Transformer movies and several others. He has discussed wanting to bring in Michael Bay to direct, so we plan to explore that. So this none of this is true. So that wasn't
just kind of untrue, it was patently false anyway. Joiner transfer is the first installment to an Escrow account to be transferred to Don Murphy. Meanwhile, that same summer, he finally closes in on his new beach house. He transfers five million, one hundred ninety nine hundred and sixteen dollars and ninety two cents to the California Investor escrow, and then about five weeks later, on September twelfth, Joiner transferred another one hundred and twenty thousand into the joint account
that he shared with his wife. I assume this is to decorate and furnish the home, probably right, you know, I got to get more all white furniture. So anyway, In total, Joiner at this point is transferred nine hundred and twenty thousand to his personal joint account as well, and he has dropped five point three point five on the Manhattan Beach dream House in total grand total six point two seven million. Also throw on the one point
two million he's promised Don Murphy. So all of this in his prior transfers and all that, it leaves a tidy sum of three point one two six million for his Legends movie. Okay, not a lot left, but guess what happens next? Enter Steven Spielberg, Gyelmo, Gueramo del Toro, and Oscar hopeful Bradley Cooper. What yes, So, if you're going to distract someone, Elizabeth, it helps if you have a shiny object, and it doesn't have to be literally shiny it can be Steven Spielberg shiny right like, So
that's what he is. He needs to catch their attention. And those names, did it seo? You popped up?
Oh yeah.
On October first, twenty sixteen, Adam Joinder sends a new update to his Asian investors, specifically tells them, we agreed to terms verbally yesterday with Gueramo del Toro and his agent. This was another the one he told to by himself some time so months past. No new deals are announced. He's still trying to like get Don Murphy to make this happen. No director signs onto the project. Don Murphy's got his money, but it ain't nothing happening. So his
investors grow anxious. Joinner decides to up the wattage of the star power. He brings him Bradley Cooper and Steven Spielberg. He says he's shopping the project to Spielberg's company Ambulance, and it looks like Steven is talking about bringing Bradley aboard. Of course, you know, Bradley Cooper, not Brad Pitt. You know, want to keep your Brad speck. So the Joiner informs his investors what this all means he'll need to cancel their Netflix deal so they can jump to Universal in
Spielberg's company. Then he sends over a new memorandum of understanding, so that way there's paper. The truth is there's no deal with Spielberg, not in place, not in distribution, not in the wind, not in talks, nothing, Just like in reality, there's no Netflix deal, and now there's no longer even an imaginary Netflix deal, so there's just nothing. So this is a problem for his Asian investors. They want their money back, so that's gonna be difficult unless they want
a beach house in California. Yeah, so what are you gonna do? Joinder goes for broke. He turns around and he asks for more money. He's like, you want your money back. I want more money from you, and they're like what he He must be onto something. There's no way money could ask us for money if they were counting us, who would do that, Elizabeth, that's the move. Apparently for these guys, it's like when in doubt ask for more money. Yeah, and it keeps them off their toes.
Business people are like, what does he No, I don't know what's going on anyway, Carl rent his play works just like for this guy, boldness strikes and Kip transfers the second half of their eight million investments. So now he's got all the Asian investors' money that's been contractually obligated. So this at this point January eleventh, twenty seventeen, he's got the extra four million. Two days later, he transfers that to his business account. He's like, whoo and that
goes to me. Now he hasn't told his business partners this, but he's starting a second project now, so he the second project, get this is called stock Car Willie. And there's no way you'll guess this, but according to I MDB, the film is about an African American driver who turns the world of NASCAR upside down. Willick Car Willie. Okay, steamboat Willie. But I don't know that there is a real life black NASCAR and f one driver whose name
is Willie t Rips. I assume that's who this must be, or maybe it's a fictional tale of a black NASCAR driver, like you know, talented, nice.
Style, magical driver, magical, oh man.
But I find it interesting that this project is where he wants to invest his Asian investors money without their consent. I'm like, that's not going to game on it.
Honestly, where does he think this is all going to go?
I do not know. It's the wildest Why I sat there in court behind him, that was the only question I was burning into the back of his head, was like, what was your play man? How did you think it was going to end How you didn't think it was going to end here? You didn't get yourself a good lawyer, so you didn't save money for that? So what happened anyway? Meanwhile, no news from Don Murphy. That's bad now his his name producer is not bringing in any names. So the
foreign investors finally lose their patients. The email Joiner demanding proof of where their money is and they want notarized bank statements. Joiner does as requested. He sends them a forged notarized monthly bank statement in his falsified docket shows that his business account has eleven zero point eight million dollars and he's like, yeah, there it is the true amount in the account, thirty two six eight pots. So on March thirty first, Joiner sends in his investors the
bad news we lost Bradley Cooper. Oh no, so yeah. He cites quote internal politics with Universal ambling, you know, and says things went badly after quote Bradley Cooper turned down the agreement of the Universal Universal decided to refuse pay miss d ambling. It's the whole thing, man.
What if Bradley Cooper finds.
Out I know, that's it tears it his in. Foreign investors they come for their money. They're like, look, man, hands out. And on April twenty six, twenty seventeen, lawyers in the United States, representing the Chinese investment firm Star Century and then PGA Young Park Capital, they file a lawsuit in the La Superior Courthouse in Torrance. They're like, we can reach you, we can touch you. By we got lawyers, so they demand that they demand the new
Manhattan Beach House because they also have forensic accountants. They found out where the money went.
All the wife's Lulu Lemmons exactly.
So Jones tries to fight the lawsuit in court. Six months of infighting, then the judge orders the sheriff to auction off the house, so Beach House gets sold. The investors. Meanwhile, they contact Don Murphy. They're like, we hear you got one point two million of our money. He's like, who are you people? What are you talking about? He has no idea, he's never heard about that because he's never
been pitched to any of this. Right too, He's at this point received two hundred grand from the promise one point two million. Yeah, the investors determined that Joiner had transferred four under grant of that back to himself, so he had also been conning. Don Murphy apparently entered the FBI. Yeah. July eighteen, FBI surveils the Manhattan Beach dream House. They're looking for him. They're like, where is this Joiner? Agents contact Don Murphy, like, when's the last time you talked
to Joiner? They contact Netflix if you talk to Joiner, who's the and they ask all the questions. They're like, we don't know this guy, We've never heard of them. They contact Steven Spielberg's ambulance, they contact Brad Cooper's wraps, they contact everybody. Everyone's like who.
Yeah.
August twenty seventh, FBI returns to the beach house to arrest Adam Joyner. They have all their ducks in a row. Now he's away on vacation with his family. Perhaps he wanted one last long look at freedom before he spend the rest of his life in federal prison. Anyway, he contacts the FBI after he hears that they're looking for him via his lawyers, and he arranges his owner arrest. He promises that he'll surrender himself just as soon as he's back from vacation. This is the only promise he kicks.
He does surrender himself. Yeah. So, now did he really think he could sit in his ill gotten beach house and just be like telling his overseas investors come at me, bro.
Yeah, I mean, like that's what I think is gonna happen.
Yeah, that was his approach. He really was like, look, we're done, you guys are this is done. This is over. He sent them emails of like, don't contact don Murphy anymore. I heard you contacted. Don't do that. This is over. I don't even want to deal with you guys. And he's like, they're like, you have our money, bro, He's like, you know what, that's not the issue. So anyway, Oh, by the way, he eventually entered a guilty plea in federal courthouse when I was there, and he was sentenced
to eight years in federal prisonikes. Yeah, so see your girls cook them in the years. Yeah, Adam join your story proves the point. If you're in the US, if you steal fourteen dollars worth of food, the cops they may shoot you. Don't do that right, Yeah, but if you steal fourteen million dollars, a US attorney will contact you and they ask you to turn yourself in and then you can arrange if you want, you get back
from vacation. That's how you do it. So remember, kids, if you can steal, steal big anyway, that's our That's it. That's all I got for you. What's our ridiculous takeaway? Elizabeth, I tell you get stupid with it right exactly as alway. You can find us online Ridiculous Crime on Twitter, that x whatever, Instagram threads, at Jamama's house. We have a website ridiculous Crime dot com. We also like your talk facts emails if you want at ridiculous Crime at gmail
dot com. Thanks for listening, Catch you next crime, y'all. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnettes, produce and edited by the Steven Spielberg. To our Bradley Cooper Dave Cousten. Research is by Marissa Can we get a grant for our documentary? Brown and Andrea? I think my German investors will love this song. Sharpen Tear. Our theme song is by Thomas. I got a group of dentists in Toledo who want to invest, Lee and Travis.
I have a bunch of p diiatrist from Pasadena looking for a film project. Dutton. The host wardrobe provided by Botany five hundred. Executive producers are ben Cecil b De Bolan and Noel Always bet On Brown.
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