'47 Ronin' Director Sentenced to 30 Months for Misusing Netflix Funds, Dogecoin Bet

A Hollywood director who blew through $11 million in Netflix production funding on cryptocurrency and luxury goods was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Cointelegraph reported on July 1 that a federal court in Manhattan sentenced Carl Rinsch, director of the 2013 film "47 Ronin." He was convicted in December on fraud and money-laundering charges.

Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Rinsch took $11 million from a streaming company under the guise of producing a television series. Instead, he used the money for high-risk stock options, cryptocurrency speculation and personal luxury purchases. Clayton added that the sentence sends a strong warning that fraud will not be tolerated.

According to a March 2025 indictment and a New York Times report, Netflix initially paid Rinsch $44 million to produce his sci-fi series "White Horse." After he requested more funding, the company wired an additional $11 million in March 2020. Rinsch poured $10.5 million of that into stock options and lost roughly half within weeks. He then transferred the remaining $4 million to the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken and invested all of it in Dogecoin. The bet generated about $27 million in profit by the time he exited the position in May 2021.

Rinsch spent about $10 million of those Dogecoin gains on personal expenses. He used $2.4 million to buy five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari, $3.8 million on furniture and antiques, and $1.8 million to pay credit-card bills.

Prosecutors had sought a five-year prison term, but the court imposed a lower sentence of 30 months. Rinsch's lawyers cited mental-health issues in seeking leniency, and Keanu Reeves, who starred in "47 Ronin," submitted a letter to the court asking for a lighter sentence. In addition to the prison term, the court ordered three years of supervised release, forfeiture of $11 million and a $700 special assessment.