A Hollywood director was sentenced Monday to 30 months in jail for stealing $11 million from Netflix – and utilizing the riches to splurge on Rolls-Royces and stays at five-star resorts.
Carl Rinsch, 48, who directed a handful of sci-fi and motion movies, obtained a sentencing simply half the size of the prosecution’s advisable jail time after the decide gave the impression to be swayed by star-studded testimony from character witnesses together with actor Keanu Reeves.
Choose Jed Rakoff of Federal District Court docket in Manhattan ordered Rinsch to repay Netflix the $11 million he was convicted in December of stealing from the streaming big, in addition to to take part in an outpatient psychological well being program and halt his narcotics use.
In a letter, Reeves – recognized for his roles in “The Matrix” and the “John Wick” franchise – defended his good friend Rinsch, whom he met on the set of the 2013 samurai flick “47 Ronin.”
“I consider circumstances arose the place his psychological well being was compromised by misuse of medicines and maybe different points, which amplified the acts of his self-sabotage and grandiosity,” the star wrote in his testimony, in accordance with court docket data.
“I have no idea the small print of this case. However based mostly upon what I do find out about Carl, I did need to take the chance to write down on his behalf, within the hope that his sentence may be tempered with measures of leniency and mercy in addition to justice,” Reeves added.
The actor — who was an investor in Rinsch’s Netflix present and served as a producer on the mission — was current at an intervention for Rinsch staged on the director’s Los Angeles dwelling, the place a behavioral well being marketing consultant tried to persuade Rinsch to enter rehab, in accordance with the New York Occasions.
Rinsch’s legal professional didn’t instantly reply to The Publish’s request for remark.
Prosecutors mentioned Netflix paid Rinsch about $44 million for a sci-fi present a few new humanlike species that turns in opposition to their creators, later sending over one other $11 million after the director claimed he wanted extra funding.
However Rinsch truly positioned a piece of the money into a private brokerage account, which he used to commerce securities – making a sequence of failed investments that misplaced round half of the $11 million in only a couple months, in accordance with prosecutors.
In early 2021, Netflix canceled improvement of the present after Rinsch’s conduct turned erratic – however that solely despatched the troubled director on a spending spree, residing out of five-star resorts in California and Spain and shopping for 5 Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari, prosecutors mentioned.
He spent about $1 million on luxurious mattresses, bedding and linens and $652,000 on watches and garments, utilizing one other $1.8 million to repay his bank card payments, in accordance with court docket data.
Rinsch was arrested in March 2025 on fees of wire fraud, cash laundering and a number of counts associated to partaking in transactions stemming from criminal activity. He was taking a look at a most time period of 90 years to life if the sentences have been served consecutively.
