An English London School of Economics ethics professor travels to the Cayman Islands to for a short-term teaching gig, he discover his beach-bar-owner brother has been ensnared by a Russian oligarch using offshore structures to evade sanctions and launder billions into Western investments. To save him, he must become the architect of the very system he's spent his career condemning.

SYNOPSIS:

Season 1 Synopsis/Season Arc: "The Descent"Logline: An ethics professor becomes the architect of a Russian oligarch's money laundering operation to save his brother, descending from academic observer to willing participant in a multi-billion dollar sanctions evasion scheme spanning the Cayman Islands, Isle of Man, and London. 10 episodes. hink Night Manager meets Breaking Bad.

Episode 1: Ethics professor Gideon Bianchi arrives in the Cayman Islands to teach a semester course on ethics and financial crime, expecting sun, beaches, and quality time with his brother Tony, who runs a struggling beach bar. On his first day, Gideon teaches the Ring of Gyges, Plato's thought experiment about whether people stay good when invisible. He meets Chantelle Moreau, a sophisticated compliance officer at GRC International who seems unusually interested in his work.When Tony confesses he's being pressured to sign papers with a mysterious "European investor" to save his bar, Gideon investigates and discovers a complex offshore structure designed to move money through Caribbean tax havens. Local journalist Marcus Dunne warns him that GRC isn't funding ethics programs out of altruism. They need academic legitimacy for their operations. After Tony's bar is ransacked and Tony disappears, Chantelle makes Gideon an offer: activate a shell company called Gyges Holdings and consult on "compliance structures" for their client, and Tony will be returned safely. Desperate and out of options, Gideon agrees. Tony reappears the next morning—safe but changed. The brothers share a hollow reunion, both knowing they've crossed a line they can't uncross.

Finished pilot script should be available by mid November, 2024.