Director sentenced to over two years after scamming Netflix out of $11,000,000 for show that never aired
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: John Sciulli/Getty Images for Team One, Saatchi LA
A director convicted of defrauding Netflix out of million of dollars has been sentenced to prison.
Carl Erik Rinsch was commissioned by Netflix to produce a science fiction series, with the streaming platform sending him $11 million towards the project after an initial investment of $44 million.
However, rather than use the funds on the series, Rinsch was found to have made off with it himself, using it to fund a lavish lifestyle.
Rinsch, 48, is best known for his movie 47 Ronin, which was released in 2013.
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He was convicted of money laundering for misusing funds and federal fraud, and could have faced up to 90 years in prison for the crimes.
Now, Rinsch has been sentenced to two and half years in prison, as well three years of supervised release.
He will also have to make $11 million in forfeitures and pay a fine of $700.
Rinsch apologized in court and accepted the responsibility, while US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement: "Today's sentence sends a deterrent message: Fraud will not be tolerated."
The trial in New York lasted for one week, and saw a number of executives from Netflix testifying as witnesses.
In the court hearings, they said that they had agreed to one season of the show, called White Horse.
Netflix had initially budgeted $44 million for the show, before Rinsch had told them that he needed a further $11 million to be able to finish the season, which ultimately never materialized.
Rather than putting the money into the project, Rinsch moved it into a personal account.
There, he had started to invest the money, reportedly losing around half of it in just a couple of months.
His lavish spending included buying cryptocurrency, as well as buying expensive things such a cars made by Rolls Royce as well as mattresses which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, prosecutors said, as well as a $395,000 bill for a stay at the Four Seasons hotel.
During an appearance on the witness stand Rinsch claimed that he believed the extra money had been to keep production going through the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that it had been a misunderstanding.
Ultimately Netflix pulled the plug on White Horse in 2021, with the only final product being teaser clips.
FBI Assistant Director Leslie Backshies previously accused Riansch of using Netflix's money to 'finance lavish purchases and personal investments instead of completing a promised television series'.
She added: "The FBI will continue to reel in any individual who seeks to defraud businesses.”