Courts and Crime
Rinsch was convicted in December of defrauding the streaming giant out of $11 million
Filmmaker Carl Erik Rinsch was sentenced on Monday to 30 months in prison after being convicted of defrauding Netflix out of $11 million.
Netflix had hired Rinsch, who previously made the film 47 Ronin, to write and direct a sci-fi series called White Horse (later renamed Conquest) in 2018. After the streaming giant poured $55 million into the project, the director failed to deliver a single episode. Rinsch later asked Netflix for an additional $11 million in funding, which — a New York Times report and later the indictment alleged — he used to gamble on the stock market and cryptocurrencies and spent on luxury goods.
No episodes of Conquest were ever produced. The director was convicted in December of wire fraud, money laundering, and making illegal transactions.
