Carl Rinsch Bought 5 Rolls Royces on Netflix’s Dime — and Now, Keanu Reeves Is Asking for 'Mercy' in the Director's Sentence. Inside the Case

Christopher RudolphSat, May 30, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC

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Carl Erik Rinsch attends New Directors' Showcase on September 23, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Credit: John Sciulli/Getty -

Carl Rinsch directed the 2013 samurai film 47 Ronin starring Keanu Reeves

In December 2025, Rinsch was convicted of stealing millions from Netflix

Reeves wrote a letter to the judge asking for leniency

Director Carl Erik Rinsch could be sentenced to decades in jail.

The filmmaker is best known for helming the 2013 samurai epic 47 Ronin, which starred Keanu Reeves. Now, the film's star has written a letter to a judge asking for leniency after Rinsch was convicted of stealing millions of dollars from Netflix.

Between 2018 and 2020, Netflix paid Rinsch approximately $55 million for White Horse, a science fiction series. However, the director never finished an episode of the series, instead spending millions on lavish goods, including cars, mattresses and designer clothing.

In March 2025, Rinsch was indicted on seven counts — including wire fraud, money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity — and in December of that year, he was found guilty on all seven counts.

Here's everything to know about Carl Rinsch's case — and why Keanu Reeves is asking for leniency in his sentencing.

Rinsch is a filmmaker who directed 47 Ronin

Ko Shibasaki, Hiroyuki Sanada, Keanu Reeves, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi and Carl Rinsch at a press conference to promote their movie '47 Ronin' in Tokyo on November 18, 2013.
Credit: TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty

According to his IMDb, Rinsch is a director of short films — including one that won the top prize at the 2010 Cannes Lions International advertising festival, per The New York Times. He is best known for being the filmmaker behind the 2013 samurai action movie 47 Ronin, which starred Reeves.

In 2018, Rinsch pitched a sci-fi series to streamers called White Horse, which resulted in a heated bidding war. The project first went to Amazon before it ultimately landed at Netflix. The series followed a genius who invents a species known as "the Organic Intelligent," per The New York Times.

"The O.I. are deployed to trouble spots around the globe to provide humanitarian aid, but humans eventually discover their true nature and turn against them," read a description from the outlet.

Netflix would end up spending more than $55 million on White Horse, which was later retitled Conquest.

He spent Netflix's budget on luxury goods, including cars, watches and mattresses

However, Rinsch never submitted a finished episode of White Horse.

According to a statement from U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, “Between 2018 and 2019, Streaming Company-1 paid approximately $44 million for White Horse." In 2019 and 2020, Rinsch asked for additional money and was given another $11 million. Those funds were transferred to a company he controlled in March 2020.

"The entirety of those funds was to be spent on the completion of White Horse," Clayton's statement continued. But “within days, Rinsch began transferring the funds he received through a number of different bank accounts before consolidating them in a personal brokerage account."

Rinsch then made a series of failed investments, losing around half of the $11 million in a couple of months, per NBC News. He then put the money into the cryptocurrency market and spent some of it on a range of luxury goods — including everything from sports cars to mattresses.

The director bought five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari, plus more than $600,000 worth of clothes and watches. He spent $638,000 on two mattresses and nearly $300,000 on bedding. One of the mattresses was handmade and cost $439,000, per Business Insider.

He also spent the money on 480 food takeout orders in a six-month span, according to the outlet, and spent $395,000 to stay at the Four Seasons hotel and at various luxury rental properties, per prosecutors. Rinsch also used the funds to pay off nearly $1.8 million in credit card debt.

He then used $1 million to sue Netflix for "even more money," according to prosecutors, claiming that the company breached their contract and owed him at least $14 million in damages. Ultimately, an arbitrator ruled in Netflix's favor in May 2024 and ordered Rinsch to pay the company $9 million in damages, per The New York Times.

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In December 2025, he was convicted of seven counts, including money laundering and wire fraud

Carl Erik Rinsch films a scene for a commercial on Feb.17, 2003 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Credit: Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo

In March 2025, Rinsch was charged with 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.

In December 2025, the director was found guilty on all seven counts, according to prosecutors. He could face a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison, according to Deadline.

"Carl Erik Rinsch took $11 million meant for a TV show and gambled it on speculative stock options and crypto transactions,” Clayton said after the jury reached its verdict, per the outlet. "Today's conviction shows that when someone steals from investors, we will follow the money and hold them accountable."

In August 2025, Variety reported Rinsch's defense team claimed the director was in a "state of psychosis" while making White Horse.

Reeves wrote a letter in support of Rinsch

Carl Erik Rinsch on September 23, 2015 in Los Angeles, California; Keanu Reeves on April 6, 2026 in New York.
Credit: John Sciulli/Getty; ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty

After working together on 47 Ronin, Rinsch and Reeves became friends, with The Matrix star even attending the director's wedding in Uruguay in 2014.

According to The New York Times, Reeves contributed financially to White Horse and was a producer on the series.

With Rinsch's sentencing drawing closer, Reeves wrote a letter to Judge Jed S. Rakoff, asking for leniency for his friend.

"In my opinion, Carl is an exceptional artist, and White Horse, in the form in which I saw it, was a superb and visionary work of art, although unfinished," the actor wrote in his letter to the judge on May 1, per court documents.

He continued, "I do not intend to share this as an excuse or diminishment of what he has been found to have done, but offer this solely as perhaps an insight into why."

Reeves asked the judge to be "able to find leniency for this man."

"To the extent you deem appropriate, I believe such leniency would be a healing act, to go along with the punishment he will live with," he added. "Thank you for your consideration."

According to Variety, other letters were submitted in defense of Rinsch, including ones from his family and friends.

Rinsch's sentencing is scheduled for June 29

Rinsch is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29, but prosecutors are expected to make their sentencing recommendation by June 16, per Variety.

The judge will likely order Rinsch to pay Netflix $11 million in restitution, according to the outlet. The streaming company is also seeking another $4.4 million in attorney and legal fees.

Rinsch would face eight to 10 years in prison under federal guidelines, per Variety. However, his defense team is arguing his sentence should be lessened since he's a first-time offender and has already been through what is most likely the "end of his career.”

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