NEW YORK — A Hollywood writer-director was arrested Tuesday on charges that he swindled $11 million from Netflix for a sci-fi show that never aired, instead steering the cash toward cryptocurrency investments and a series of lavish purchases that included a fleet of Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari.
Carl Erik Rinsch — perhaps best known for directing the film “47 Ronin” — has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering over what federal prosecutors allege was a scheme to defraud the streaming giant.
It is unclear if Rinsch has hired an attorney. Netflix declined to comment.
Prosecutors said Netflix had initially paid about $44 million to purchase an unfinished show called “White Horse” from Rinsch, but eventually doled out another $11 million after he said he needed the additional cash to complete the show.
Rather than using the extra money to wrap up production, Rinsch quietly transferred the money to a personal brokerage account, where he made a series of failed investments that lost about half of the $11 million in two months, according to prosecutors.
The filmmaker then dumped the rest of the money into the cryptocurrency market, which proved to be a profitable move, with Rinsch eventually transferring the earnings into a personal bank account, according to an indictment.
From there, Rinsch spent about $10 million on personal expenses and luxury items in a spending spree that, according to prosecutors, included about $1.8 million on credit card bills; $1 million on lawyers to sue Netflix for more money; $3.7 million on furniture and antiques; $2.4 million for five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari; and $652,000 on watches and clothes.
Rinsch, 47, was arrested in West Hollywood and is set to appear in a federal court in California later Tuesday, authorities said. His indictment was filed in New York.