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Former Epix chief digital officer pleads guilty to $7 million scheme

Former Epix chief digital officer pleads guilty to $7 million scheme

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He used fake emails and shell companies to siphon funds

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EPIX TCA Presentation & Party
Photo by Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for EPIX

Emil Rensing, the former chief digital officer of premium cable network Epix, pled guilty today to defrauding his employer out of more than $7 million, according to the Department of Justice. Rensing was first arrested and charged in April 2016 for having used shell companies and phony identities to get Epix to pay companies he controlled for media services he never intended to deliver himself.

In some cases, the work was done by Epix employees, while Rensing passed it off as the work of third-party vendors that were in fact fictitious firms Rensing controlled. The scheme lasted from 2010 until 2015, netting Rensing millions. He also used the real names of acquaintances, former colleagues, and business partners on documents and emails used in the scheme, unbeknownst to those individuals that they were being used to defraud Epix. Rensing pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to one count of wire fraud. He faces up to 20 years in prison.