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Carl Erik Rinsch, the director accused of blowing $11 million of Netflix’s money on cars, mattresses, and cryptocurrency, has pleaded not guilty to charges including fraud and money laundering.
Rinsch was arrested in March in connection with the alleged misappropriation of the streaming service’s funds; a seven-count grand jury indictment detailed the “scheme to steal millions by soliciting a large investment from a video streaming service, claiming that money would be used to finance a television show that he was creating—but that was fiction.”
Netflix hired Rinsch to write and direct a sci-fi series called White Horse(later renamedConquest) in 2018, but despite Netflix pouring $55 million into the project, the director never delivered 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, stay in fancy hotels, and purchase luxury goods. No episodes of Conquest were ever produced.
A Sept. 8 trial date was set for Rinsch, who remains free on $100,000 bail, Variety reports. While Rinsch initially faced up to 90 years in prison if convicted on all seven counts, the Manhattan court judge said Thursday that Rinsch would only face up to 20 years if found guilty, though even a sentence that severe is “wholly irrational.” “I don’t pay much attention to the [sentencing] guidelines,” the judge said.
Rinsch also faces a civil trial brought forth by Netflix, which is seeking to recoup some of the $11 million the director allegedly misappropriated; Rinsch has said he is broke, and that his cryptocurrency balance plunged from $26.7 million in May 2021 to $68,000 in May 2023.
