'Narcos' Producer Sues Ex-Partner Over Over $1 Million in Netflix Series Profits

A producer behind Netflix's hit series "Narcos" has sued in justice claiming he owed him more than a million dollars in unpaid profits on the show.

José Padilha sued fellow producer Eric Newman, claiming Newman violated an all-sharing agreement profits on the show 50-50.

The complaint alleges that Newman and his company received "several million dollars in income arising from or related to with 'Narcos' that were not reported to Plaintiffs." The lawsuit seeks to recover 50% of all unreported income, plus punitive damages.

Newman has a long-standing relationship with Netflix. He's currently producing "Rebel Moon," the big-budget streamer sci-fi epic from director Zack Snyder. In addition to "Narcos," his other Netflix projects include "Bright," starring Will Smith, and "Hemlock Grove," which was the streamer's second show ever.

Padilha is a Brazilian director who first came to prominence for "Bus 174", a 2002 documentary about a bus hijacking in Rio de Janeiro. He won further acclaim for "Elite Squad," a feature about a Brazilian military police unit, and went on to direct the 2014 remake of "RoboCop," produced by Newman.

The suit alleges that Padilha and Newman entered into an agreement in 2013 to jointly produce "Narcos", a series about Colombian cocaine trafficker Pablo Escobar. The series and its sequel, “Narcos: Mexico,” ran for a total of six seasons on the streaming service.

Padilha also directed "7 Days in Entebbe" and created "The Mechanism", a Brazilian political drama which ran for two seasons on Netflix.

Representatives for Newman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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