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Keanu Reeves is asking a judge for leniency in the sentencing for his 47 Ronin director Carl Rinsch. Rinsch was convicted of scamming Netflix out of $11 million. He was convicted in December of money laundering, illegal transactions, and wire fraud.
The hefty amount given to him by Netflix was supposed to go toward a sci-fi series called White Horse. Instead, Rinsch bought a Ferrari and multiple Rolls-Royces along the way, and the project never manifested. Some of the money went into crypto and personal accounts. Prosecutors also say he spent $652,000 on watches and clothing, $638,000 on mattresses, and $295,000 on luxury bedding and linens, per NBC News. That’s a lot of Brooklinen.
Reeves wrote a sentencing letter on behalf of his colleague and friend, asking for “mercy.” He also said White Horse would have been a good show. Reeves wrote that it was “a superb and visionary work of art, although unfinished.”
“In my opinion, Carl can self-sabotage by amplifying the scale, scope, and landscape of what had been negotiated, accordingly placing himself and his counterparties at odds,” he wrote. “I do not intend to share this as a diminishment of what he has been found to have done, but offer this solely as perhaps an insight into why.”
Rinsch is facing ten years in federal prison for his crimes. He is also expected to pay $11 million in restitution to Netflix and a possible additional $4.4 million in court fees. We’ll find out if Reeves’s pleas worked when the director is sentenced June 29.
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