Carl Rinsch faces up to 90 years in prison after laundering money from a streaming company that was intended for his show “White Horse.”

47 Ronin director convicted of wire fraud and laundering $11 million from Netflix sci-fi show

Carl Rinsch faces up to 90 years in prison after laundering money from a streaming company that was intended for his show "White Horse."

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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December 12, 2025 3:05 p.m. ET

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Carl Rinsch in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2015. Credit:

John Sciulli/Getty

- Filmmaker Carl Rinsch was convicted of wire fraud, money laundering, and more financial crimes on Thursday.

- Prosecutors said that a streaming company gave Rinsch $11 million to finish his series *White Horse*, but he used the funds for personal matters.

- Rinsch faces up to 90 years in prison.

The director of a Keanu Reeves flop has been convicted of fraud and money laundering.

Carl Rinsch, whose sole feature directorial credit came with the 2013 fantasy bomb *47 Ronin*, was convicted of one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on Thursday.

The charges stemmed from a planned sci-fi series titled *White Horse*. The USAO said that Rinsch received $11 million from an unnamed streaming service to supplement the production budget of the series, and instead used the funds for personal investments. *The New York Times* previously reported that the streaming company in question was Netflix.

Ko Shibasaki, Hiroyuki Sanada, Keanu Reeves, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi, and Carl Rinsch promoting '47 Ronin' in Tokyo on Nov. 18, 2013.

TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty

Rinsch's lawyer, Benjamin Zeman, criticized the verdict in a statement to **.

"I think the verdict was wrong and I fear that this could set a dangerous precedent for artists who become embroiled in contractual and creative disputes with their benefactors, in this case one of the largest media companies in the world, finding themselves indicted by the federal government for fraud," he said.

Netflix declined EW's request for comment on the verdict.

The USAO said that the streaming platform initially paid $44 million for *White Horse* between 2018 and 2019, and that Rinsch "demanded" an additional $11 million to finish the series, which the company ultimately paid in March 2020.

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The prosecutors said that "within days," Rinsch transferred those $11 million into various accounts before moving the money into his personal brokerage account, and subsequently used it to "make a number of personal and speculative purchases of securities." They also noted that the filmmaker had lost "more than half" of the money less than two months after receiving it.

The USAO went on to claim that Rinsch used the remaining money on cryptocurrency and personal purchases, including five Rolls-Royces and a red Ferrari (which cost at least $2.4 million in total), a Swiss watch (which cost at least $387,000), and a variety of furniture, mattresses, and antiques (which cost at least $3.3 million in total).

Rinsch faces up to 90 years in prison if he receives the maximum sentence for each count. He will be sentenced on April 17, 2026.

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Rinsch began his career directing commercials, including a widely lauded 2010 ad for the Dutch electronics company Philips. He directed Reeves in the 2013 fantasy action film *47 Ronin*, which also starred Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, and Rinko Kikuchi. The movie ultimately bombed upon release, and Rinsch returned to directing commercials until he began developing *White Horse*.

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