Keanu Reeves asks for 'leniency and mercy' in Netflix case

Keanu Reeves has asked for "leniency and mercy" for the director convicted of stealing $11million from Netflix.

Carl Rinsch, who directed Keanu Reeves' 2013 movie 47 Ronin, was found guilty of using an $11million (£8.18million) budget from Netflix for personal use.

As sentencing approaches, Reeves has written a letter to the judge, supporting Rinsch.

"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," he said, in documents obtained by People.

Rinsch's case is in conjunction with a sci-fi series called White Horse, which he never finished.

"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."

He added, "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."

In December, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said the filmmaker used Netflix's money "to speculate on cryptocurrency, and on personal expenses and luxury items, including at least $1.7million (£1.26million) on credit card bills; at least $3.3million (£2.45million) on furniture, antiques, and mattresses; at least $387,000 (£287,000) on a Swiss watch; and at least $2.4million (£1.78million) on five Rolls Royces and a red Ferrari."