'47 Ronin' director convicted of defrauding Netflix out of $11 million meant for TV show

Filmmaker Carl Erik Rinsch, who directed the 2013 enactment movie “47 Ronin” starring Keanu Reeves, was convicted Thursday for defrauding Netflix of $11 million.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff recovered Rinsch blameworthy of ligament fraud, wealth laundering and different charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York announced. Attorney Benjamin Zeman, who represents Rinsch, denounced the verdict successful a connection shared Friday.

“I deliberation the verdict was incorrect and I fearfulness that this could acceptable a unsafe precedent for artists who go embroiled successful contractual and originative disputes with their benefactors,” Zeman said, “in this lawsuit 1 of the largest media companies successful the world, uncovering themselves indicted by the national authorities for fraud.”

A typical for Netflix did not remark connected Rinsch’s conviction.

Federal prosecutors alleged successful a March indictment that the $11 cardinal was meant to spell toward finishing a TV amusement successful which $44 cardinal had already been invested. Prosecutors allege the wealth alternatively went into Rinsch’s idiosyncratic accounts, his idiosyncratic spending and his idiosyncratic gains and losses. The director, 48, “quickly transferred” the wealth from the Rinsch Co. account, wherever it had been deposited March 6, 2020, by Netflix, done a fig of further accounts until astir $10.5 cardinal coiled up weeks aboriginal successful a idiosyncratic brokerage account. Rinsch proceeded to suffer much than fractional of that wealth successful little than 2 months via risky investments successful the banal market, the indictment said.

Though helium told the streamer that his sci-fi amusement “White Horse” was “awesome and moving guardant truly well,” Rinsch, implicit the adjacent mates of years, allegedly moved the remaining wealth into cryptocurrency and yet profited from crypto speculation. He was accused of spending astir $10 cardinal connected 5 Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari, watches, clothing, luxury bedding and linens, recognition paper bills, attorneys to writer Netflix for much money, and lawyers to enactment connected his divorce.

According to the indictment, astir $3.8 cardinal was spent connected furnishings and antiques, including 2 mattresses that outgo $638,000 total. The half-dozen cars outgo a small implicit $2.4 million.

Rinsch was arrested successful West Hollywood successful March and released the aforesaid time aft agreeing to station a $100,000 enslaved to warrant his quality successful a New York national court.

“Carl Erik Rinsch took $11 cardinal meant for a TV amusement and gambled it connected speculative banal options and crypto transactions,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Thursday. “Today’s condemnation shows that erstwhile idiosyncratic steals from investors, we volition travel the wealth and clasp them accountable.”

Rinsch ne'er finished the show. His sentencing is acceptable for April.

Times adjunct exertion Christie D’Zurilla and the Associated Press contributed to this report.