A director has been convicted of scamming streaming service Netflix out of $11 million.
Carl Rinsch was initially granted the money in order to finish making a show called White Horse, with Netflix initially paying $44 million for the show before Rinsch said in 2020 that he needed a further $11 million to complete the the project.
However Rinsch, who directed the 2013 flop 47 Ronin, did not spend the cash on finishing the show at all, instead ploughing it into a personal investments account where he lost about half of it within two months.
There was also a $395,000 bill for a stay at the Four Seasons, that's the hotel not the landscaping company, as well as several luxury properties.
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In an astonishing move, Rinsch even spent $1 million of Netflix's own money on legal teams with the aim of suing the streaming service for even more cash, as well as for his divorce proceedings.
Now, Rinsch has been convicted of wire fraud and money laundering, and the charges from the attorney's office in New York's Southern District mean that he could face up to 90 years in prison.
On Thursday US Attorney Jay Clayton said after the guilty verdict was confirmed: “Carl Erik Rinsch took $11 million meant for a TV show and gambled it on speculative stock options and crypto transactions.
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“Today’s conviction shows that when someone steals from investors, we will follow the money and hold them accountable.”
In an indictment shared by government prosecutors earlier this year, they accused Rinsch of 'knowingly having devised and intending to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses.'
FBI Assistant Director Leslie Backshies also previously weighed in on the case, saying that Rinsch used the money to 'finance lavish purchases and personal investments instead of completing a promised television series'.
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She added: "The FBI will continue to reel in any individual who seeks to defraud businesses.”
According the indictment, Rinsch was charged with one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.
After defrauding the company in 2020, Netflix pulled the plug on the project in 2021 with nothing to show for White Horse except some teaser clips.
Rinsch was represented during the case by public defenders and private lawyers, and a sentencing hearing has now been set for April 17 2026.
Kit Roberts