Keanu Reeves Asks for 'Leniency and Mercy' in Upcoming Sentencing of Director Who Was Convicted of Stealing $11 Million from Netflix

Tommy McArdleThu, May 28, 2026 at 4:28 PM UTC

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Keanu Reeves on April 6, 2026
Credit: Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty -

Keanu Reeves wrote a letter of support for Carl Rinsch, the filmmaker who, in December 202,5 was found guilty of stealing $11 million from Netflix to produce a series titled White Horse that he never finished

Reeves asked that the judge determining the length of Rinsch's jail sentence "might be tempered with measures of leniency and mercy as well as justice"

Reeves and Rinsch made the 2013 movie 47 Ronin together and became friends in the years afterward

Keanu Reeves is asking a judge to reduce a jail sentence for Carl Rinsch, the filmmaker who was found guilty of using an $11 million budget he obtained from Netflix to produce a television series for personal use, as Rinsch's sentencing approaches.

Rinsch, 50, was originally charged with stealing $11 million from Netflix back in March 2025. He was found guilty on one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in a criminal trial that ended in December. Reeves, 61, worked with Rinsch on the 2013 movie 47 Ronin, in which the actor portrayed a samurai in 1600s Japan.

"I am writing in support of Carl Rinsch in connection with his upcoming sentencing. I do not know the details of this case. But based upon what I do know about Carl, I did want to take the opportunity to write on his behalf, in the hope that his sentence might be tempered with measures of leniency and mercy as well as justice," Reeves wrote in a letter to Judge Jed S. Rakoff in New York City on May 1, in court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

Reeves wrote that he and Rinsch became friends in the years after they made 47 Ronin and that he even attended Rinsch's 2014 wedding in Uruguay. Reeves noted that Rinsch once showed him an unfinished version of White Horse, the show that he was contracted by Netflix to create and never actually produced in full. (According to a 2023 article in The New York Times, Reeves invested in the series financially and was a producer on the project.)

"In my opinion, Carl is an exceptional artist, and White Horse, in the form in which I saw it, was a superb and visionary work of art, although unfinished," Reeves wrote. "I am, of course, not a therapist or psychologist. I write instead as an artistic peer of Carl's, and as a friend. In my opinion, Carl can self-sabotage by amplifying the scale, scope and landscape of what had been negotiated, accordingly placing himself and his counterparties at odds.

"I do not intend to share this as an excuse or diminishment of what he has been found to have done, but offer this solely as perhaps an insight into why," the actor continued.

Ko Shibasaki, Hiroyuki Sanada, Keanu Reeves, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi and Carl Rinsch promoting 47 Ronin on November 18, 2013
Credit: TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty

Back in December, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said in a statement regarding Rinsch's conviction that the filmmaker used the money given to him by Netflix “to speculate on cryptocurrency, and on personal expenses and luxury items, including at least $1.7 million on credit card bills; at least $3.3 million on furniture, antiques, and mattresses; at least $387,000 on a Swiss watch; and at least $2.4 million on five Rolls Royces and a red Ferrari."

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According to the Times, Rinsch's mental health came into question during the production of the series; Reeves even attended an intervention staged at Rinsch's home in Los Angeles in late 2019, as the outlet reported back in 2023.

Per the December statement from the Southern District of New York, Netflix — identified as Streaming Company 1 in the statement — paid roughly $44 million for White Horse's production and then sent Rinsch an additional $11 million after he "demanded even more money" from the streamer to complete the series in March 2020.

Beyond the personal expenses Rinsch was convicted of spending the money on, he also "used those funds to make a number of personal and speculative purchases of securities" and quickly lost more than half of the $11 million.

Keanu Reeves in 2013's 47 Ronin
Credit: H2f Entertainment/Mid Atlantic Films/Mpc/Stuber Productions/Kobal/Shutterstock

As Varietyreported on Wednesday, May 27, Rinsch will be sentenced on June 29, and prosecutors will make their sentencing recommendation to the judge by June 16. The judge is likely to order Rinsch to pay $11 million to Netflix in restitution, as Variety reported, and Netflix is seeking an additional $4.4 million for its own attorneys' fees.

"I have seen Carl bring exceptional joy and warmth to the people around him. I have seen him bring creative inspiration to others through his creativity and vision," Reeves wrote in his letter. "I have seen and been a part of wonderful artistic environments where exceptional work was done with him."

The actor added, "I hope you are able to find leniency for this man. To the extent you deem appropriate, I believe such leniency would be a healing act, to go along with the punishment he will live with. Thank you for your consideration."

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