Takes a real creative to swindle Netflix this badly.
PublishedDecember 11, 2025 6:50 PM EST•UpdatedDecember 11, 2025 7:58 PM EST
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Hollywood director Carl Rinsch was convicted of fraud and will face time behind bars after going on an unauthorized spending spree with Netflix’s funds.
The plot, wild as it is, would also make the perfect Netflix project.
Rinsch secured millions from the entertainment giant, initially paid for his projects, and allegedly diverted those funds to speculate on cryptocurrency.
Over several months, Rinsch made millions trading that crypto and used the earnings for personal expenses and luxury goods, including five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari.
He also spent a reported million dollars on linens.
Netflix accused Rinsch of spending $11 million from his project’s budget to fuel this lifestyle. Now he’s paying the piper.
Director Carl Erik Rinsch. (Photo by John Sciulli/Getty Images for Team One, Saatchi LA)
Rinsch never delivered a completed television show to the company and never returned the funds, according to the sealed indictment.
Once a no-name director, Rinsch lucked out when he landed the job to direct Keanu Reeves’ 2013 CGI-heavy box office bomb, 47 Ronin.
With extensive re-shoots demanded by Rinsch, the budget for Ronin reportedly ballooned up to $225 million. The movie made roughly $151 million at the box office.
Still against the odds, Rinsch pitched a concept to Netflix in 2017, titled White Horse (changed to Conquest), and the media giant bought the rights for $61 million. He went over budget and was accused of using $11 million from the funds toward personal interests.
(L to R) Japanese actress Ko Shibasaki, actor Hiroyuki Sanada, Canadian actor Keanu Reeves, Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, actress Rinko Kikuchi and director Carl Rinsch pose for photographers at a press conference to promote their movie ’47 Ronin’ in Tokyo on November 18, 2013. (Photo credit should read TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty Images)
Between October 2019 and March 2020, Rinsch demanded these additional funds from the company, falsely representing that the money would be used to complete production on White Horse, noted in the indictment.
In court, Rinsch argued it was backend pay after he used his own funds on the project. A decision was quickly reached.
On Wednesday, the director, 49, was found guilty on seven counts total, including wire fraud, money laundering, and five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property.
Director Carl Erik Rinsch. (Photo by John Sciulli/Getty Images for Team One, Saatchi LA)
It’s a level of swindling too audacious even for Hollywood, and the cinematic nature of the crime, trading production funds for crypto profits and five Rolls-Royces, all but guarantees Rinsch’s story will be adapted into a television project.
Netflix, I’d happily write and direct it on budget.
Once a “director to watch” with the pre-release hype of Ronin, Rinsch is now facing up to 90 years in prison.
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