Netflix Director Carl Rinsch Accused of Blowing $11 Million on Crypto

A director of a would-be Netflix series has been arrested on fraud charges for allegedly blowing through $11 million meant for the show, accused of spending the money on failed stocks, cryptocurrency, expensive cars, and two mattresses that totaled $600,000. 

Carl Erik Rinsch was arrested in Los Angeles on Tuesday after a seven-count grand jury indictment was unveiled against him in the Southern District of New York on March 4. In addition to wire fraud, the 47-year-old is charged with money laundering and monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. If found guilty of all the charges, Rinsch faces up to 90 years in prison. 

Rinsch is accused of orchestrating “a 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,” Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement announcing the director’s arrest. “Rinsch instead allegedly used the funds on personal expenses and investments, including highly speculative options and cryptocurrency trading.

A previous legal representative for Rinsch told Rolling Stone they no longer represented him. Rinsch could not be immediately reached for comment. 

The New York Times published a report on the bizarre unraveling of the show White Horse (later renamed Conquest) in November 2023, finding that despite Netflix pouring $55 million into Rinsch’s project, the director never delivered a single episode. In interviews with the show’s cast and crew — as well as a review of court documents, texts and emails — Rinsch was accused of lavish spending, growing increasingly erratic, and making wild claims about Covid-19 transmission. 

At the time, Rinsch declined to comment to the Times. He instead took to Instagram to speculate the piece would be “inaccurate” and “discuss the fact that I somehow lost my mind … (Spoiler alert) … I did not.” 

Rinsch began filming his sci-fi show White Horse between 2016 and 2017, working with two media companies to produce six short-form episodes, according to the 14-page indictment obtained by Rolling Stone. In 2018, Rinsch entered an agreement with a streaming company, who between June 2018 and October 2019 paid “approximately $44 million for White Horse,” according to court papers. (Prosecutors did not identify the streaming company in the indictment, but it has been widely reported Netflix was the buyer of the show.)  

In March 2020, Rinsch requested more funds to complete the filming of the show and $11 million was wired to Rinsch’s production company, according to the indictment. But instead of using the funds to complete White Horse, Rinsch is accused of transferring a bulk of the funds to a personal brokerage account, where he used the money to gamble on the stock market. 

“Rinsch’s trades were not successful, and in less than two months after receiving $11 million from Streaming Company-1, RINSCH had lost more than half of those funds,” the indictment alleges. Meanwhile, Rinsch allegedly told Netflix that things were going “awesome and moving forward really well.” 

Around spring 2021, Rinsch allegedly moved what was left of the depleted $11 million into a cryptocurrency exchange account, which eventually yielded massive profits. Between June 2021 and November 2022, prosecutors accuse Rinsch of moving his cryptocurrency gains into a personal bank account, where he spent roughly $10 million on personal expenses and luxury items. 

According to the indictment, a rough expenditure list of Rinsch’s alleged spending included: $638,000 to purchase two mattresses; $395,000 on stays at the Four Seasons hotel and other luxury rental properties; $2,417,000 to purchase five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari; $652,000 on watches and clothing; and $3,787,000 on furniture and antiques. Rinsch is also accused of spending $1,787,00 on credit card bills and $1,073,000 on legal representation in divorce proceedings and a lawsuit against Netflix. 

“Rinsch, the defendant, never completed White Horse and never returned the fraudulently obtained funds to Streaming Company-1,” the indictment alleged.