- Carl Erik Rinsch, director of 47 Ronin, faces charges of wire fraud, money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.
- He allegedly asked for $11 million to fund the completion of a TV show he was working on, but instead used the money on luxury items, the stock market and cryptocurrency.
- According to the indictment, Rinsch never completed the show and “never returned the fraudulently obtained funds.”
A Hollywood filmmaker has been charged by federal prosecutors for stealing more than $11 million from a streaming service to use for personal expenses instead of creating a show, according to authorities.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York announced in a news release on Tuesday, March 18 that Los Angeles writer and director Carl Erik Rinsch, 47, was arrested and 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.
According to the indictment, Rinsch reached an agreement with a streaming service — which was identified as Netflix by the New York Times — to complete a science fiction show called White Horse. Netflix allegedly paid Rinsch approximately $44 million between 2018 and 2019 for “existing episodes” that had already been shot, and to also “fund completion of the rest of the show,” which the NYT noted was later renamed to Conquest.
The filmmaker allegedly then asked Netflix for more money to fund the project between 2019 and 2020. The indictment claims that the streaming service “ultimately agreed to pay” an additional $11 million to a company Rinsch controlled on or about March 6, 2020.
“The entirety of those funds was to be spent on the completion of White Horse,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office claimed in the release. “But Rinsch did not use those funds to complete White Horse.”
According to the indictment, Rinsch allegedly transferred the funds he received “through a number of different bank accounts before consolidating them in a personal brokerage account” and then used the funds for personal expenses including stock trading — which had been “unsuccessful.”
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
The director allegedly “lost more than half” of the $11 million “less than two months” after receiving the funds from Netflix. The indictment then claims that the rest of the money was later used on “cryptocurrency” and “personal expenses and luxury items.”
Per the Attorney Office’s release, he allegedly spent more than $3.7 million on furniture and antiques, more than $2.4 million on purchasing luxury cars, including five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari, and more than $600K on watches and clothing.
Authorities also claim that the 47 Ronin director spent $1.7 million on credit card bills and over $1.4 million on divorce lawyers and lawyers to sue Netflix for “even more money.”
According to the indictment, Rinsch never completed the show and “never returned the fraudulently obtained funds.”
Netflix cancelled the development of Rinsch’s show in early 2021 after he began exhibiting odd behavior in messages sent to the company, according to the NYT. After the director was informed that the streaming service would stop funding the show, he reportedly went on a spending spree with the show’s remaining money.
Per the NYT, he claimed that the luxury items he purchased were to be used in the show, but an arbitrator and former Los Angeles Superior Court judge, Rita Miller, ruled that none of the purchases Rinsch made were necessary for the production. Netflix ultimately wrote off the $55 million it gave to the director.
“Carl Rinsch allegedly stole more than $11 million from a prominent streaming platform to finance lavish purchases and personal investments instead of completing a promised television series. The FBI will continue to reel in any individual who seeks to defraud businesses,” FBI Assistant Director Leslie Backschies said in a statement, per the release, while Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky added, “Rinsch’s arrest is a reminder that this Office and our partners at the FBI remain vigilant in the fight against fraud and will bring those who cheat and steal to justice.”
Rinsch faces a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison, with the wire fraud and money laundering charges each carrying a max of 20 years, while each of the five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity could result in 10 years of prison time.
Read the full article here
