Latest news with #StreamingCompany-1
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
5 Rolls-Royces and $638k in mattresses: How prosecutors say director Carl Rinsch ripped off Netflix and went spending
Carl Erik Rinsch was charged with scamming Netflix out of $11 million for a TV show. He made cryptocurrency investments and used the profits to buy luxury items, prosecutors said. Rinsch faces up to 90 years in prison on federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Hollywood director-writer Carl Erik Rinsch has been charged with scamming Netflix out of $11 million, sinking the stolen funds into cryptocurrency, and using the profits for a wild spending spree that included the purchase of five Rolls-Royces. Rinsch, the director behind the 2013 film "47 Ronin," was arrested on Tuesday in California on federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection to the alleged scheme to defraud the streaming behemoth. He faces a maximum sentence of 90 years behind bars. Here's how prosecutors allege, in a 12-page indictment filed in Manhattan federal court, that the filmmaker swindled millions of dollars from Netflix. Netflix, only identified in the indictment as "Streaming Company-1," had paid Rinsch $44 million between 2018 and 2019 for an unfinished sci-fi TV show called "White Horse," prosecutors say. Under Rinsch's agreement with Netflix, he was to complete the show, which was about a scientist who created a group of super-intelligent clones, according to the court documents. In March of 2020, Netflix forked over another $11 million to Rinsch after he demanded more money to complete the show, the indictment says. Prosecutors say that Rinsch "almost immediately" transferred that extra money from his namesake company to his personal accounts. Rinsch then made several "extremely risky" purchases of securities, including call options on a biopharmaceutical company, and lost more than half of the $11 million in less than two months due to his unsuccessful trades, the indictment says. While Rinsch was losing most of the $11 million intended to complete "White Horse," he lied to Netflix, saying that the show was "awesome and moving forward really well," according to prosecutors. Prosecutors say that in 2021 Rinsch transferred what was left of the money to a cryptocurrency exchange account where his luck turned around. Rinsch "used those funds to speculate on cryptocurrency — which eventually proved profitable," the indictment says. Buying Dogecoin, which Elon Musk has called one of his favorite cryptocurrencies, helped Rinsch turn $4 million into nearly $27 million, The New York Times reported in 2023. The filmmaker then transferred his profits to another personal bank account before spending $10 million on luxury goods and other expenses, according to prosecutors. Rinsch spent about $2.4 million on five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari, $652,000 on watches and clothing, $638,000 on two mattresses, $295,000 on bedding and linens, $3.8 million on furniture and antiques, $1.8 million on credit card bills, and another $1 million on lawyers to sue Netflix "for even more money," the indictment says. Prosecutors say Rinsch never completed "White Horse" and never returned the stolen money to Netflix. An attorney for Rinsch did not return a request for comment by Business Insider on Wednesday. Netflix declined to comment. Last year, an arbitrator sided with Netflix and ruled that Rinsch owed it $8.8 million in damages. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Feds Indict ‘47 Ronin' Director Who Scammed Netflix Out Of Millions For Never-Made TV Series
Federal prosecutors have indicted Carl Rinsch for allegedly ripping off Netflix for $11 million for a long promised sci-fi series that was never made. In a case with Keanu Reeves cameos, some bad crypto deals, a pledge to be able to control lightening, five Rolls-Royces and a scathing portrait of an industry drunk on its own content needs, the 47 Ronin director is looking at likely the rest of his life behind bars if found guilty. '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,' FBI Assistant Director Leslie Backschies said Tuesday of Netflix a.k.a 'Streaming Company-1' in the 12-page indictment, as the indictment was made pubic. 'The FBI will continue to reel in any individual who seeks to defraud businesses.' More from Deadline 'Adolescence' Leads Netflix TV Charts In Debut Week; 'Back In Action' Secures Spot On Most Popular Film List 'Sirens': Netflix Reveals Premiere Date, First-Look Images For Limited Series Starring Julianne Moore Gabrielle Dennis & Michael Potts Join Courtney A. Kemp's Netflix Crime Drama 'Nemesis' As Series Regulars Arrested today in L.A., the 47-year-old Rinsch is 'charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison,' according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. In ways that seem almost impossible to imagine in this era of leaner budgets, more streamlined needs and less production overall, Rinsch's alleged conduct and crimes would make a pretty good six-episode series on a streamer, or a Netflix True Crime documentary. After burning through $44 million of the streamer's cash for 'White Horse' and holding final-cut power, Rinsch demanded another $11 million off the company in 2020. The director said the funds were for various and pre-and post-production' needs to complete the series., Having seen next to nothing since Cindy Holland scooped up White Horse, renamed Conquest, from Amazon in 2018 for over $61 million, Netflix gave the director the money with what one assumes was a hope and a prayer. A year later, with absolutely nothing to show for it but aggravation, Netflix pulled the plug on the project. The streamer later wrote off over $55 million in costs. Netflix won a $12 million arbitration ruling against Rinsch last year after the filmmaker claimed that the company actually owned him $14 million. Rinsch doesn't seem to have paid up. Before all this ended up in court, the filmmaker took Netflix's cash that had been deposited in a bank account in the name of the 'Rinsch Company' and moved it around to a variety of other accounts and locations. After a slew of bad market trades, Rinsch blew through around half the $11 million in less than a year. Regaling Netflix execs with tales that White Horse/Conquest was 'awesome and moving forward really well,' Rinsch then went on a spending spree. The inventory put together by SDNY prosecutors and the Kash Patel-run FBI listed a real champagne tastes and caviar dreams mentality. Rinsch used the money he had left 'to speculate on cryptocurrency, and on personal expenses and luxury items, including approximately $1,787,000 on credit card bills; approximately $1,073,000 on lawyers to sue Streaming Company-1 for even more money, and for lawyers related to his divorce; approximately $395,000 to stay at the Four Seasons hotel and at various luxury rental properties; approximately $3,787,000 on furniture and antiques, including approximately $638,000 to purchase two mattresses and approximately $295,000 on luxury bedding and linens; approximately $2,417,000 to purchase five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari; and approximately $652,000 on watches and clothing.' With Rinsch set to go before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff Tuesday, Netflix had no comment on today's indictment when contacted by Deadline. Best of Deadline James Mangold's 'A Complete Unknown': Everything We Know About The Bob Dylan Biopic So Far 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Epic Universe: The Latest Images Of The New Universal Orlando Theme Park
