netflix
Netflix is being sued by former Dutch drug lord Adrianus van Wesenbeeck over their Undercover and Ferry films and TV series. He claims they are unlawfully based on his life and accuses the streaming service of defamation, copyright and portrait rights, and deliberately causing emotional harm.
According to Netflix, the plot to Ferry: The Series is: “An up-and-coming drug dealer Ferry Bouman is in dire need of money. So when a big-time drug lord gets arrested, he swoops in to fill the vacancy. As he keeps his criminal dealings a secret from his girlfriend, Danielle, Ferry must fend off the drug lord whose territory he’s trying to overtake. A prequel to the series Undercover and a sequel to the film Ferry, Ferry: The Series shows one man’s rise to notoriety within the Netherlands’ criminal underworld.”
Adrianus van Wesenbeeck claims Ferry Bouman is based on him, but that the character’s portrayal as a serial killer and a human trafficker has caused him “significant emotional, financial and reputational damage.”
Crime News in the Netherlands reports that van Wesenbeeck was sent to prison from 2011 to 2015 for large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization, but he was never suspected or convicted of murder or human trafficking.
In the lawsuit, filed in Florida on Tuesday, van Wesenbeeck claims that the Netflix shows and films took at least two elements from his autobiographical book Drugsbaron without his permission. He also claims that a song used in the franchise derogatorily refers to him and his late wife Lydia.
“This deliberate and misleading presentations has caused significant harm by blurring the line between fiction and reality and falsely associating the Plaintiff with the character of Ferry Bouman,” the lawsuit claims, according to The Wrap.
The lawsuit, while admitting that Netflix has never claimed the stories are based on van Wesenbeeck’s life, the actors in the franchise have claimed to the media that they are.
Adrianus van Wesenbeeck is seeking actual damages exceeding $26 million, compensatory damages over $50 million, punitive damages surpassing $50 million, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees, and any other legal remedies available. He also wants profits from the franchise, which is estimated to be over $166 million.