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Story: Netflix Director Gets 30 Months After $11M Dogecoin Bet Derails Sci-Fi Series

By Evie Vavasseur

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Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, and a Stalled Production. What did he do with $27 million? Five Rolls-Royces. A Ferrari. High-end watches. Designer clothing.

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Netflix Wins Arbitration, Rinsch Gets Nothing Extra. It didn't end with the criminal case. Rinsch had tried to go after Netflix for an additional $14…

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Carl Rinsch is going to prison. The director behind "47 Ronin" got sentenced to 30 months after a federal court found he stole $11 million from Netflix — money meant to finish…

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The conviction came in December 2025. Wire fraud. Rinsch had received the $11 million from Netflix back in 2020, a fresh injection of cash for a production that had already…

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Judge Jed Rakoff didn't go that far. He settled on 30 months — half what prosecutors wanted — after hearing testimony about Rinsch's mental health.

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Rinsch himself acknowledged he'd ignored serious mental health problems and said he accepted responsibility.

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More context: Chinas Open-Source AI Push Puts Crypto and Tech Investors on Edge

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It didn't end with the criminal case. Rinsch had tried to go after Netflix for an additional $14 million, claiming the company owed it to him under the terms of their contract.

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The broader damage here isn't just to Rinsch. Six episodes of "White Horse" do exist — produced partly with Rinsch's own money before Netflix got involved — but the series is…

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The timing made it worse, probably. Netflix handed over that $11 million during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when productions everywhere were struggling and the company was…

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Crypto's role in the whole saga is kind of strange to sit with. The dogecoin investment worked, financially speaking. The $4 million became $27 million.

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More context: Solana Backs Kazakhstans $6 Billion Alatau City Crypto Hub with Blockchain MOU

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"White Horse" had already consumed $44 million before the fraud even happened. Six episodes exist.

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