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Judgment Day for Netflix’s Profligate Son

The incredible saga of Carl Rinsch, who bilked Netflix for millions that he spent on Dogecoin, a couple of Rolls-Royces, and a half-million-dollar mattress, has come to trial. Is Rinsch a “creative genius” who merely failed to deliver, or something more sinister?

Carl Rinsch
The government’s contention is that Rinsch deserves prison time for deceiving Netflix—which is, separately, pursuing collection from him following an arbitration win. Photo: John Sciulli/Getty Images for Team One, Saatchi LA
Eriq Gardner
December 10, 2025

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For the past week, I’ve been tucked into a sparsely attended federal courtroom watching the criminal trial of Carl Rinsch—the writer-director accused of extracting a small fortune from Netflix. Rinsch, of course, was famously hired to make a big-budget sci-fi series about A.I. clones, called White Horse. Instead, he wasted millions on a Ferrari, four Rolls-Royces, really nice bedding, Dogecoin, and various other purchases that seemingly had nothing to do with the show’s production costs.