Carl Rinsch, the director convicted of defrauding Netflix out of $11 million last year for an original sci-fi series “White Horse,” was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison on Monday.
He’d faced up to 9 years behind bars, but no one expected his sentence to be anywhere near that.
The judge, Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York also sentenced the 48-year old to 3 years of supervised release, plus $11 million in forfeiture and a $700 fine.
According to reports, Rinsch addressed the court apologizing and accepting responsibility for his actions.
Keanu Reeves, who worked with Rinsch on the 2013 film “47 Ronin,” wrote a letter of support ahead of the director’s sentencing.
Rinsch was found guilty of wire fraud, money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity concerning the money he received from Netflix.
Rinsch was found to have diverted those funds into a personal account which he then spent on speculative crypto trading, and a personal spending spree.
A lawyer for Rinsch declined to comment.