New York
Director arrested on charges of swindling Netflix out of $11 million
NEW YORK (AP) — A Hollywood writer-director was arrested Tuesday on charges that he swindled $11 million from Netflix for a sci-fi show that never aired, instead steering the cash toward cryptocurrency investments and a series of lavish purchases that included a fleet of Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari.
Carl Erik Rinsch — perhaps best known for directing the film “47 Ronin” — has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering over what federal prosecutors allege was a scheme to defraud the streaming giant.
Prosecutors said Netflix had initially paid about $44 million to purchase an unfinished show called “White Horse” from Rinsch, but eventually doled out another $11 million after he said he needed the additional cash to complete the show.
Rather than using the extra money to wrap up production, Rinsch quietly transferred the money to a personal brokerage account, where he made a series of failed investments that lost about half of the $11 million in two months, according to prosecutors.
The filmmaker then dumped the rest of the money into the cryptocurrency market, which proved to be a profitable move, with Rinsch eventually transferring the earnings into a personal bank account, according to an indictment.
From there, Rinsch spent about $10 million on personal expenses and luxury items in a spending spree that, according to prosecutors, included about $1.8 million on credit card bills; $1 million on lawyers to sue Netflix for more money; $3.8 million on furniture and antiques; $2.4 million for five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari; and $652,000 on watches and clothes.
Rinsch, 47, was arrested in West Hollywood, California, and had an initial court hearing on Tuesday.
He appeared in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles in a turtleneck sweater and jeans with shackles on his arms and legs. He did not enter a plea and spoke only to answer a judge’s questions.
When asked if he’d read the indictment against him, he said “not cover to cover” but told the judge he understood the charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Pedro V. Castillo ordered that he be released later Tuesday after he agreed to post a $100,000 bond to assure he’ll appear in court in New York, where his indictment was filed.
His newly appointed attorney, Annie Carney, declined to comment outside court. She said during the hearing that she had not yet seen the prosecution’s evidence against Rinsch. When discussing the terms of his release, she said, “the allegations in this case are purely financial.”
Rinsch’s New York court date had not yet been set.
Texas
Jury finds two men guilty in smuggling conspiracy that killed 53 immigrants
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Two smugglers charged after 53 immigrants died in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer with no air conditioning were found guilty Tuesday after a two-week trial. The 2022 tragedy in San Antonio was the nation’s deadliest smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Jurors in federal court in San Antonio took only about an hour to convict Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega, finding that they were part of a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury. They face up to life in prison and have a June 27 sentencing date.
The immigrants had come from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case.
They had made it as far as the Texas border city of Laredo when they were placed into a tractor-trailer with broken air conditioning for a three-hour drive to San Antonio.
As the temperature inside the trailer rose, those inside screamed and banged the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said. Most eventually passed out. When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included six children and a pregnant woman.
“These defendants knew the air conditioning did not work. Nevertheless they disregarded the danger,” Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas said in a news conference after the verdict Tuesday. Orduna-Torres was the leader of the smuggling group inside the U.S., and Gonzales-Ortega was his “right-hand man” she said.
Five men previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in the smuggling case, including the truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr., who was found hiding near the trailer in some bushes. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Also pleading guilty are Christian Martinez, Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, Riley Covarrubias-Ponce and Juan Francisco D’Luna Bilbao. All five will be sentenced later this year. Another person charged in the U.S. remains a fugitive, Leachman said. Several others have been charged in Mexico and Guatemala.
The incident is the deadliest among tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten immigrants died in 2017 after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.
New York
State’s top court dismisses sexual abuse lawsuit, sparking criticism from advocates
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A lawsuit against New York alleging sexual abuse decades ago was tossed out by the state’s top court Tuesday because it lacked specific information, drawing criticism from advocates concerned about setting unrealistically high standards for survivors to recall traumatic events.
The state Court of Appeals reversed a lower appeals court and granted the state’s motion to dismiss the claim from a man who says he was repeatedly sexually assaulted around a state-run theater in Albany from 1986 to 1990, starting when he was 12. The suit was filed under the Child Victims Act, a 2019 state law that temporarily allowed people to sue over sexual abuse they suffered long ago as children.
The judges unanimously sided with the state attorney general’s office, which argued the lawsuit did not meet legal standards for bringing a claim against the state. The court said allegations in the lawsuit were too vague to allow the state to investigate the extent of its liability.
“The claim lacks critical information about the abusers. It alleges that the perpetrators included teachers, coaches, counselors, and perhaps other employees of the State, but it does not explain whether those employees were ... teachers, coaches, and counselors, or why, as a child, he was in their company multiple times between 1986 and 1990,” according to the decision by Judge Caitlin Halligan.
The case deals only with requirements for suing New York, not private institutions such as churches or youth groups.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly and provide consent.
The case is among roughly 300 filed against the state during a two-year window under the Child Victims Act. Most of the more than 10,800 CVA lawsuits named private institutions.
Jessica Schidlow, legal director of the advocacy group CHILD USA, said the court’s decision imposes unrealistic expectations on victims who sued the state under the CVA.
“This interpretation neglects the modern scientific consensus on the neurobiological impact of trauma which can severely disrupt memory, and it perpetuates decades of procedural hurdles that shut victims out of court,” Schidlow wrote in an email.
Michael Polenberg, vice president of government affairs at the victim assistance nonprofit Safe Horizon, said the group is “deeply disappointed” by the decision, which he said came “because the adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse was unable to remember every single detail that took place many decades earlier.”
“Survivors who file these lawsuits deserve their day in court, Polenberg said.
The lawsuit was initially dismissed by a state Court of Claims judge who cited the lack of specific dates. A mid-level appeals court reversed that decision in 2023.
Minnesota
Republicans call on GOP colleague to resign after prostitution arrest
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Fellow Republicans called Tuesday on a Minnesota state senator to resign after police in suburban Bloomington arrested him for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution.
GOP Sen. Justin Eichorn, 40, of Grand Rapids, was arrested Monday after detectives communicated with a man who was led to believe that he was talking to a 16-year-old girl, the department said in a news release. A detective arranged to meet with him, and he was arrested outside his vehicle without incident.
He remained jailed in Bloomington on Tuesday afternoon pending his transfer to the Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis, Deputy Chief Kim Clauson said. She said she did not know if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf or if he had spoken with an investigator. Jail staff would not take a message for him.
The department said a felony charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution was pending, but the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said it had not yet received the case.
A message left at Eichorn’s Senate office was not immediately returned.
According to his Senate profile, he’s married with four children. He lists his profession as entrepreneur and was first elected in 2016. His chair on an environment committee sat empty during a Tuesday hearing.
Senate Republicans as a group called on Eichorn to step down, as did House Republicans.
“We are shocked by these reports, and this alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation,” his Senate GOP colleagues said in a statement. “Justin has a difficult road ahead, and he needs to focus on his family.”
Senate Democratic leaders stopped short of calling for him to quit. They have also stood up for Democratic Sen. Nicole Mitchell, of Woodbury, who was arrested last spring on a felony charge for allegedly burglarizing her estranged stepmother’s home. Senate Democratic leaders have said she deserves to have the legal process play out first.
“The felony allegation against Senator Eichorn is deeply disturbing, and raises serious questions that will need to be answered by the court, as well as his caucus and constituents,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, of St. Paul, said in a statement that echoed what she has said about Mitchell.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges leveled sharp criticism of Eichorn.
“As a 40-year-old man, if you come to the Orange Jumpsuit District looking to have sex with someone’s child, you can expect that we are going to lock you up,” Hodges said in a statement. “I have always advocated stiffer penalties for these types of offenses. ... We need our state legislature to take this case and this type of conduct more seriously.”
Director arrested on charges of swindling Netflix out of $11 million
NEW YORK (AP) — A Hollywood writer-director was arrested Tuesday on charges that he swindled $11 million from Netflix for a sci-fi show that never aired, instead steering the cash toward cryptocurrency investments and a series of lavish purchases that included a fleet of Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari.
Carl Erik Rinsch — perhaps best known for directing the film “47 Ronin” — has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering over what federal prosecutors allege was a scheme to defraud the streaming giant.
Prosecutors said Netflix had initially paid about $44 million to purchase an unfinished show called “White Horse” from Rinsch, but eventually doled out another $11 million after he said he needed the additional cash to complete the show.
Rather than using the extra money to wrap up production, Rinsch quietly transferred the money to a personal brokerage account, where he made a series of failed investments that lost about half of the $11 million in two months, according to prosecutors.
The filmmaker then dumped the rest of the money into the cryptocurrency market, which proved to be a profitable move, with Rinsch eventually transferring the earnings into a personal bank account, according to an indictment.
From there, Rinsch spent about $10 million on personal expenses and luxury items in a spending spree that, according to prosecutors, included about $1.8 million on credit card bills; $1 million on lawyers to sue Netflix for more money; $3.8 million on furniture and antiques; $2.4 million for five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari; and $652,000 on watches and clothes.
Rinsch, 47, was arrested in West Hollywood, California, and had an initial court hearing on Tuesday.
He appeared in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles in a turtleneck sweater and jeans with shackles on his arms and legs. He did not enter a plea and spoke only to answer a judge’s questions.
When asked if he’d read the indictment against him, he said “not cover to cover” but told the judge he understood the charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Pedro V. Castillo ordered that he be released later Tuesday after he agreed to post a $100,000 bond to assure he’ll appear in court in New York, where his indictment was filed.
His newly appointed attorney, Annie Carney, declined to comment outside court. She said during the hearing that she had not yet seen the prosecution’s evidence against Rinsch. When discussing the terms of his release, she said, “the allegations in this case are purely financial.”
Rinsch’s New York court date had not yet been set.
Texas
Jury finds two men guilty in smuggling conspiracy that killed 53 immigrants
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Two smugglers charged after 53 immigrants died in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer with no air conditioning were found guilty Tuesday after a two-week trial. The 2022 tragedy in San Antonio was the nation’s deadliest smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Jurors in federal court in San Antonio took only about an hour to convict Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega, finding that they were part of a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury. They face up to life in prison and have a June 27 sentencing date.
The immigrants had come from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case.
They had made it as far as the Texas border city of Laredo when they were placed into a tractor-trailer with broken air conditioning for a three-hour drive to San Antonio.
As the temperature inside the trailer rose, those inside screamed and banged the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said. Most eventually passed out. When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included six children and a pregnant woman.
“These defendants knew the air conditioning did not work. Nevertheless they disregarded the danger,” Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas said in a news conference after the verdict Tuesday. Orduna-Torres was the leader of the smuggling group inside the U.S., and Gonzales-Ortega was his “right-hand man” she said.
Five men previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in the smuggling case, including the truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr., who was found hiding near the trailer in some bushes. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Also pleading guilty are Christian Martinez, Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, Riley Covarrubias-Ponce and Juan Francisco D’Luna Bilbao. All five will be sentenced later this year. Another person charged in the U.S. remains a fugitive, Leachman said. Several others have been charged in Mexico and Guatemala.
The incident is the deadliest among tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten immigrants died in 2017 after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.
New York
State’s top court dismisses sexual abuse lawsuit, sparking criticism from advocates
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A lawsuit against New York alleging sexual abuse decades ago was tossed out by the state’s top court Tuesday because it lacked specific information, drawing criticism from advocates concerned about setting unrealistically high standards for survivors to recall traumatic events.
The state Court of Appeals reversed a lower appeals court and granted the state’s motion to dismiss the claim from a man who says he was repeatedly sexually assaulted around a state-run theater in Albany from 1986 to 1990, starting when he was 12. The suit was filed under the Child Victims Act, a 2019 state law that temporarily allowed people to sue over sexual abuse they suffered long ago as children.
The judges unanimously sided with the state attorney general’s office, which argued the lawsuit did not meet legal standards for bringing a claim against the state. The court said allegations in the lawsuit were too vague to allow the state to investigate the extent of its liability.
“The claim lacks critical information about the abusers. It alleges that the perpetrators included teachers, coaches, counselors, and perhaps other employees of the State, but it does not explain whether those employees were ... teachers, coaches, and counselors, or why, as a child, he was in their company multiple times between 1986 and 1990,” according to the decision by Judge Caitlin Halligan.
The case deals only with requirements for suing New York, not private institutions such as churches or youth groups.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly and provide consent.
The case is among roughly 300 filed against the state during a two-year window under the Child Victims Act. Most of the more than 10,800 CVA lawsuits named private institutions.
Jessica Schidlow, legal director of the advocacy group CHILD USA, said the court’s decision imposes unrealistic expectations on victims who sued the state under the CVA.
“This interpretation neglects the modern scientific consensus on the neurobiological impact of trauma which can severely disrupt memory, and it perpetuates decades of procedural hurdles that shut victims out of court,” Schidlow wrote in an email.
Michael Polenberg, vice president of government affairs at the victim assistance nonprofit Safe Horizon, said the group is “deeply disappointed” by the decision, which he said came “because the adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse was unable to remember every single detail that took place many decades earlier.”
“Survivors who file these lawsuits deserve their day in court, Polenberg said.
The lawsuit was initially dismissed by a state Court of Claims judge who cited the lack of specific dates. A mid-level appeals court reversed that decision in 2023.
Minnesota
Republicans call on GOP colleague to resign after prostitution arrest
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Fellow Republicans called Tuesday on a Minnesota state senator to resign after police in suburban Bloomington arrested him for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution.
GOP Sen. Justin Eichorn, 40, of Grand Rapids, was arrested Monday after detectives communicated with a man who was led to believe that he was talking to a 16-year-old girl, the department said in a news release. A detective arranged to meet with him, and he was arrested outside his vehicle without incident.
He remained jailed in Bloomington on Tuesday afternoon pending his transfer to the Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis, Deputy Chief Kim Clauson said. She said she did not know if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf or if he had spoken with an investigator. Jail staff would not take a message for him.
The department said a felony charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution was pending, but the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said it had not yet received the case.
A message left at Eichorn’s Senate office was not immediately returned.
According to his Senate profile, he’s married with four children. He lists his profession as entrepreneur and was first elected in 2016. His chair on an environment committee sat empty during a Tuesday hearing.
Senate Republicans as a group called on Eichorn to step down, as did House Republicans.
“We are shocked by these reports, and this alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation,” his Senate GOP colleagues said in a statement. “Justin has a difficult road ahead, and he needs to focus on his family.”
Senate Democratic leaders stopped short of calling for him to quit. They have also stood up for Democratic Sen. Nicole Mitchell, of Woodbury, who was arrested last spring on a felony charge for allegedly burglarizing her estranged stepmother’s home. Senate Democratic leaders have said she deserves to have the legal process play out first.
“The felony allegation against Senator Eichorn is deeply disturbing, and raises serious questions that will need to be answered by the court, as well as his caucus and constituents,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, of St. Paul, said in a statement that echoed what she has said about Mitchell.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges leveled sharp criticism of Eichorn.
“As a 40-year-old man, if you come to the Orange Jumpsuit District looking to have sex with someone’s child, you can expect that we are going to lock you up,” Hodges said in a statement. “I have always advocated stiffer penalties for these types of offenses. ... We need our state legislature to take this case and this type of conduct more seriously.”
