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Director Carl Rinsch was found guilty of fraud charges,
money laundering
, and five counts of monetary transactions of illegal activity.
The director of the flop film starring Keanu Reeves, 47 Ronin (2013) was found guilty by the Southern District of New York Attorney’s Office on Thursday (11/12).
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As reported by Entertainment Weekly on Friday (12/12), this case started with plans to make the science fiction series White Horse.
The Southern District of New York Attorney’s Office said that Rinsch received $11 million from an unnamed streaming service to supplement the series’ production budget.
However, it is said that Rinsch used the additional funds for personal investments.
Although the Southern District of New York Attorney’s Office did not name the streaming service in question, the New York Times said the streaming service was Netflix.
In a statement to
E.W
Rinsch’s lawyer, Benjamin Zeman, criticized the ruling and said it was a “dangerous precedent for artists.”
“I think the ruling is wrong and I worry it could set a dangerous precedent for artists involved in contractual and creative disputes with their funders,” Zeman said.
“In this case one of the largest media companies in the world, which was then indicted by the federal government on charges of fraud,” he continued.
EW said Netflix declined a request for comment on the ruling.
The US Attorney’s Office (USAO) said the streaming platform initially paid US$44 million for the White Horse project between 2018 and 2019.
Rinsch then “demanded” an additional US$11 million to complete the content, which the company paid in March 2020.
Prosecutors said that “within days” Rinsch transferred the $11 million to a number of accounts before moving the money to his personal brokerage account and using it to “make a number of personal and speculative securities purchases.”
Prosecutors noted that the filmmaker lost “more than half” of the money less than two months after receiving it because of the investments he chose.
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However, Rinsch was later called by USAO to use the remaining money to buy cryptocurrency and a number of luxury goods.
The luxury items include five Rolls-Royce cars and a red Ferrari worth a total of at least US$2.4 million, a Swiss watch worth at least US$387 thousand and various furniture, mattresses and antiques worth a total of at least US$3.3 million.
In this case, Rinsch faces up to 90 years in prison if he receives the maximum sentence for each charge.Rinsch’s sentence will be read on April 17, 2026.
Carl Rinsch began his career directing commercials, including a critically acclaimed commercial for Philips in 2010. He then directed Keanu Reeves in the film 47 Ronin (2013) which also starred Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, and Rinko Kikuchi.
However, the film ultimately failed in the market when it was released.From a budget of US$225 million, the film only earned a box office of US$151.8 million.After that Rinsch returned to directing commercials until he began developing White Horse.
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