Hollywood director Carl Erik Rinsch has been found guilty of using an $11 million investment from Netflix intended for a sci-fi TV show to fund his extravagant personal spending.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the conviction on Thursday, December 11, stating that Rinsch diverted funds meant to complete the science fiction series White Horse for luxury items and speculative investments.
According to officials, Rinsch spent at least $1.7 million on credit card bills, $3.3 million on furniture, antiques, and mattresses, $387,000 on a Swiss watch, and $2.4 million on five Rolls-Royces and a red Ferrari. He also used part of the funds to speculate on cryptocurrency.
Rinsch, who directed the 2013 film 47 RONIN starring Keanu Reeves, was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years. He was also found guilty of five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.
“Carl Erik Rinsch took $11 million meant for a TV show and gambled it on speculative stock options and crypto transactions,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said. “Today’s conviction shows that when someone steals from investors, we will follow the money and hold them accountable.”
Rinsch had partially completed White Horse and entered into an agreement with Netflix to receive funding for its completion. Between 2018 and 2019, the streaming company paid approximately $44 million for the show. When Rinsch requested additional funds in 2019 and 2020, he was given another $11 million, which he transferred to a company he controlled in March 2020.
Within days, he redirected the funds through multiple bank accounts into a personal brokerage account and used them for personal purchases and speculative trades, losing more than half of the money in less than two months.
Rinsch, 49, now faces sentencing for his breach of the Netflix agreement and the misuse of millions in investor funds, marking a cautionary tale in Hollywood’s high-stakes entertainment industry.
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