A judge has sentenced Hollywood director and writer Carl Rinsch to 30 months in prison for defrauding Netflix out of $11 million. Rinsch was supposed to use the money for a never-finished science fiction series called White Horse or Conquest.
A jury convicted the 48-year-old, best known for the film 47 Ronin, in December of federal fraud and money laundering for misusing the funds. On Monday, he was facing up to 90 years in prison. Instead, a judge sentenced him to two and a half years behind bars, three years of supervised release, $11 million in forfeitures, and $700 in “mandatory special assessments.” Authorities have scheduled Rinsch to surrender for his incarceration on September 1.
Instead of finishing the Netflix series, Rinsch diverted the money into a personal account and spent a large portion of it on the cryptocurrency market, cars, watches, clothes and other luxury items, including $638,000 on two mattresses.
Keanu Reeves, who starred in 47 Ronin, and other supporters had urged the judge to be lenient on Rinsch. In a letter ahead of Rinsch’s sentencing, Reeves said the director brings “exceptional joy and warmth to the people around him” and “creative inspiration to others through his creativity and vision.” He also asked that the judge’s prison sentence “might be tempered with measures of leniency and mercy as well as justice.”
Reeves added, “I believe circumstances arose where his mental health was compromised by misuse of medications and perhaps other issues, which amplified the acts of his self-sabotage and grandiosity, impacting his relationships, work, and ability to complete Conquest.”
Prosecutors wanted a prison sentence twice as long
“Mr. Rinsch had every possible advantage,” including a high-paying trust fund and rich Hollywood friends, prosecutor David Markewitz, who was seeking a sentence of five years in prison, told the court. The prosecutor added that his misuse of the money was nothing more than “naked greed.”
“I made a mistake,” Rinsch told the judge before his sentencing. “This process has forced me to confront things about myself that I never fully understood before.”
“Carl is now facing his mental health issues where previously he was unwilling to do so,” said the director’s attorney Daniel McGuinness, who also added that they will be appealing the case.
The judge told the court that Carl Rinsch’s mental health difficulties “may explain some of the excesses,” but he was “determined to lie” to secure the money from Netflix and hoped to “cover it up through money laundering and lies.”