Summary: A Los Angeles director was convicted for diverting $11 million intended to finish a science fiction TV show, instead using the money for risky stock and cryptocurrency trades and lavish personal purchases.
A federal jury found Carl Erik Rinsch, 48, guilty of a scheme that took funds from a streaming service contract tied to a sci-fi series called White Horse. The Los Angeles-based writer and director faces a slate of federal charges including wire fraud, money laundering, and multiple counts tied to monetary transactions involving proceeds of unlawful activity. Those convictions came after a short federal trial in New York.
Prosecutors say the scheme unfolded after Rinsch reached a deal in 2018 with a streaming platform identified in court papers as Streaming Company-1. That agreement reportedly involved payment for existing episodes and funding to complete the series, and the platform paid roughly $44 million for the project between 2018 and 2019. Rinsch later asked for additional financing to finish the show.
Streaming Company-1 agreed to fund another $11 million and transferred those funds to a company controlled by Rinsch on or about March 6, 2020. Court documents say the cash was explicitly meant to cover the completion costs for White Horse, yet the money never reached production expenses. Instead, the funds moved through a chain of accounts before landing in Rinsch’s personal brokerage account.
“Carl Erik Rinsch took $11 million meant for a TV show and gambled it on speculative stock options and crypto transactions,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Today’s conviction shows that when someone steals from investors, we will follow the money and hold them accountable.”
According to the indictment and trial testimony, Rinsch rapidly converted the transferred funds into speculative positions in securities, and those trades went poorly. In less than two months he had lost more than half of the $11 million through unsuccessful stock option trades and other market bets. After those losses, he did not redirect the remaining funds back to the production.
Instead, the remaining money was used for further speculation in cryptocurrency and for personal spending. Prosecutors documented a long list of purchases and charges they say were paid with the misappropriated funds, showing how investor money intended for a television project was diverted into private gain. The spending was detailed in court filings and formed a central part of the government’s case.
The filings enumerate the personal outlays tied to the transfers, including at least $1.7 million charged to credit cards, about $3.3 million on furnishings and antiques, and $387,000 spent on a Swiss watch. The records show roughly $2.4 million went toward the purchase of five Rolls-Royces and a red Ferrari, among other luxury items. Those items and transactions helped prosecutors demonstrate that the money was not used for production costs.
Rinsch was convicted on 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. Statutory maximum penalties cited in the indictment include up to 20 years for the fraud and laundering counts and up to 10 years for each of the monetary transaction counts. Sentencing will be decided by a judge on the scheduled date.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and tried before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff. The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17, 2026, when the court will determine the appropriate punishment within the framework set by federal law. The government emphasized it would follow the money trail in bringing the prosecution.
Authorities credited investigative work by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit for uncovering the transfers and tracing how the funds moved. The prosecution was handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy V. Capozzi, Jackie Delligatti, David A. Markewitz, Kevin Mead, and Adam Sowlati led the case with assistance from paralegal specialists Maria Larracuente and William Coleman.
The conviction underscores the risks investors face when funds are entrusted to a single creative lead without strict oversight and accounting. It also demonstrates how federal prosecutors use financial records to link alleged theft to lavish spending and speculative trading. Upcoming court proceedings will clarify sentencing and any restitution obligations that may follow the conviction.
