Hollywood director Carl Erik Rinsch jailed for two and a half years for defrauding Netflix

A Hollywood director who used Netflix money meant for a science fiction series to buy Rolls Royces, Ferraris and cryptocurrency has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Carl Erik Rinsch, 48, best known for the 2013 film 47 Ronin, was convicted last year of federal fraud and money laundering for misusing $11m (£8.3m) of the streaming giant’s funds. In court before the sentence was handed down by Judge Jay Rakoff, Rinsch apologised and said he accepted responsibility for his crimes. The judge also ordered three years of supervised release, $11m in forfeiture and a $700 fine. Prosecutors said Netflix had given Rinsch roughly $55m for the unfinished sci-fi show, initially named White Horse, including $11m he told them he needed to complete production. Instead, they said, he put the money in a personal account, invested it and lost half within a couple of months. He put funds into cryptocurrency, and spent money on lavish purchases such as Rolls Royce cars and mattresses costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. During his one-week trial in New York, several Netflix executives testified that they only agreed to one season of the show, which Rinsch failed to deliver. Rinsch took the stand – a rare move for a defendant in a criminal case – claiming the situation was a misunderstanding and he believed the money was meant to keep the show going during the pandemic. The New York Times reported that friends and colleagues described Rinsch as growing increasingly erratic after he signed the Netflix deal, including claiming he could predict lightning strikes and volcanic eruptions and knew about a “secret transmission mechanism” for Covid-19. Rinsch faced up to 90 years in prison but was expected to receive a lighter sentence. “Today’s sentence sends a deterrent message: Fraud will not be tolerated,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.