Carl Rinsch, director of the 2013 Keanu Reeves-starred movie “47 Ronin,” was arrested Tuesday in West Hollywood and charged with wire fraud and cash laundering after allegedly misappropriating $11 million in funding from a “outstanding streaming platform,” which a number of stories ostensibly cite as Netflix.
Prosecutors allege Rinsch requested extra funding from a streaming service to finish his sci-fi sequence “White Horse” in 2020 however as a substitute transferred the cash to non-public accounts and commenced buying and selling securities.
His manufacturing firm was beforehand paid $44 million earlier than the extra funding request, prosecutors claimed.
“Rinsch orchestrated a scheme to steal tens of millions by soliciting a big funding from a video streaming service, claiming that cash can be used to finance a tv present that he was creating. However that was fiction,” appearing U.S. Legal professional Matthew Podolsky wrote in a assertion.
By late April 2020, he had misplaced greater than half the funds by way of dangerous investments, together with “extremely speculative choices and cryptocurrency buying and selling,” in addition to an ETF monitoring the S&P 500 index, per the assertion.
Rinsch additionally used these funds to “speculate on cryptocurrency—which ultimately proved worthwhile,” the indictment reads.
In keeping with the indictment, Rinsch allegedly used these positive aspects to spend $2.4 million on 5 Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari, $3.7 million on furnishings and antiques, $652,000 on watches and clothes, and $638,000 on two mattresses, in addition to $295,000 on luxurious bedding and linens.
Earlier stories from 2023 claimed Rinsch liquidated his Dogecoin positions, initially value $4 million, and flipped this into $27 million by Might 2021. Rinsche allegedly used Kraken to buy crypto by way of transfers from Schwab Financial institution.
Prosecutors declare Rinsch by no means delivered the finished tv present to Netflix and by no means returned the cash regardless of ending “six short-form episodes.”
Discovery supplies on the case alleged he spent $1.1 million on attorneys to sue the streaming firm for added funds and for his divorce proceedings.
If convicted of wire fraud, Rinsch might resist 20 years in jail. The cash laundering cost carries a further most 20-year sentence, whereas 5 counts of participating in financial transactions with criminally derived property every carry as much as 10 years.
That might convey his complete consecutive sentences to 90 years in jail if discovered responsible on all counts.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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