Netflix director Carl Erik Rinsch was convicted in December 2025 and sentenced in June 2026 for obtaining an additional $11 million intended to finish White Horse, a science-fiction series that was never completed. The U.S. Department of Justice says he used the money for speculative stock and cryptocurrency trades and personal spending. He received 30 months in prison.
What happened to the $11 million?
The money was an additional payment for completing White Horse, a planned science-fiction series. The indictment said the streaming company agreed that the full $11 million would fund work such as storyboarding, art, makeup and costume design, paying cast and crew, and editing footage already shot. The payment was transferred on or about March 6, 2020. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York later reported that Rinsch was convicted of obtaining the money through fraud.
According to the indictment, Rinsch moved nearly all the funds through accounts he controlled and consolidated about $10.5 million in a personal brokerage account. He made risky securities trades, including call options on a biopharmaceutical company and put options on an S&P 500-tracking ETF. The Justice Department’s 2026 sentencing release says those stock-option trades lost more than half of the additional payment in less than two months. The indictment says that in 2021 the remaining funds were used to buy cryptocurrency, and that the cryptocurrency trading proved profitable.
The DOJ’s June 2026 release also says Rinsch spent at least $1.7 million on credit-card bills, at least $3.3 million on furniture, antiques and mattresses, at least $387,000 on a Swiss watch, and at least $2.4 million on five Rolls-Royces and a red Ferrari. These are selected minimums reported in the sentencing release, not a complete accounting of every dollar.
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What was White Horse?
White Horse was a planned science-fiction series about a scientist who created superintelligent clones. The indictment described the clones as being banished to a walled area in a Brazilian city, where they developed advanced technology and came into conflict with humans and one another.
Rinsch began filming around 2016 or 2017. The indictment said about six short-form episodes, each approximately four to ten minutes long, were largely completed. In 2018, he reached an agreement with a streaming company to pay for existing episodes and fund the remaining footage. The DOJ’s 2026 sentencing release says approximately $44 million was paid for the project between 2018 and 2019, before the separate $11 million payment. The show was never completed.
Was Carl Rinsch convicted, and what was his sentence?
Yes. Rinsch was convicted after a week-long trial in December 2025. On June 29, 2026, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The sentence also ordered $11 million in forfeiture and $700 in mandatory special assessments, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
At sentencing, Rinsch said, “This process has forced me to confront things about my health, my judgment and my life,” and, “I failed to recognize the danger of the state I was in,” as quoted by the Associated Press. Prosecutor David Markewitz described Rinsch as having “every possible advantage” and called his motive “naked greed,” AP reported.
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How did the defense describe the case?
After the verdict, defense attorney Benjamin Zeman said he believed it was wrong and warned that it “could set a dangerous precedent for artists who become embroiled in contractual and creative disputes with their benefactors,” according to the Associated Press. That was the defense’s response to the conviction; Rinsch was found guilty at trial and later sentenced.
The Justice Department’s releases call the streaming company “Streaming Company-1”; the Associated Press identifies it as Netflix. The sources cited here do not establish whether Rinsch filed an appeal or its status as of October 4, 2026.
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Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, June 2026 sentencing release
- U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, indictment announcement
- Associated Press, sentencing report
- Associated Press, verdict report
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