De Niro's company sues ex-employee for $6m for embezzlement and Netflix bingeing

Chase Robinson, who until recently held a senior role in Robert De Niro’s film production company, has been sued by her former employer for $6m.

According to Variety, which saw papers filed in a state court on Saturday, Robinson – whose most recent position was vice-president of production and finance at Canal Productions – is accused of embezzling money and wasting time during office hours watching television shows.

The suit states that Robinson, who left the company in April on a $300,000 annual salary amid growing concerns of “corporate sabotage”, abused expense accounts to pay restaurant and hotel bills and used millions of De Niro’s own frequent flyer miles for personal trips.

It continues to allege that Robinson wasted “astronomical amounts of time” watching Netflix during work hours, including 55 episodes of Friends during one four-day period in January. Another four-day period saw her view 20 episodes of Arrested Development and 10 of Schitt’s Creek.

The suit states: “Watching shows on Netflix was not in any way part of or related to the duties and responsibilities of Robinson’s employment and, on information and belief, was done for her personal entertainment, amusement and pleasure at times when she was being paid to work.”

According to the claim, Robinson’s apparent Friends binge coincided with charging lunch from the high-end delivery service Caviar San Francisco and dinner at Paola’s Restaurant (where secondi start at $28) to the company card. It is alleged that oover two years, Robinson racked up $12,696.65 in unauthorised charges at Paola’s, as well as $8,923.20 at the luxury grocers Dean and Deluca and Whole Foods, and $32,000 for Ubers and taxis.

Robinson still lists herself as employed by the company on LinkedIn, although her resignation email apparently dismissed concerns about her expenditure as “ridiculous”. The claim states that De Niro refused to sign a self-penned recommendation letter for Robinson. The Guardian has contacted Robinson for comment.

De Niro is shortly to be seen opposite Joaquin Phoenix in The Joker, as well as in Netflix’s The Irishman, his latest reunion with Martin Scorsese.