Keanu Reeves has asked a judge to show “leniency” towards Carl Rinsch.
Keanu Reeves has written a letter of support
The filmmaker has been found guilty of using an $11 million budget he obtained from Netflix to produce a TV series for personal use, but Keanu – who worked with Rinsch on the 2013 movie 47 Ronin – has written a letter in support of his former co-star.
In a letter to Judge Jed S. Rakoff, which has been obtained by People, Keanu said: “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.”
The Hollywood star revealed that Rinsch once showed him an unfinished edit of White Horse, the TV show that he was contracted to create, but never produced in full.
Keanu – who attended Rinsch’s 2014 wedding in Uruguay – wrote in his letter: “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.
“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 US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York previously alleged that Rinsch used his Netflix money 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”.
