Former Epix executive arrested over alleged $8-million fraud

The former chief digital officer of the Epix cable television network was arrested Tuesday on charges that he bilked the network out of more than $8 million over the course of five years.

Emil Rensing was arrested by FBI agents at his Manhattan residence, The Times confirmed. He was charged with two counts of wire fraud and identity theft, according to federal documents filed in New York’s Southern District Court.

The complaint alleges that from April 2010 to August 2015, while working for the premium movie network, Rensing defrauded the company by having it contract with ghost vendor companies to provide digital media services for Epix. Those services, however, were largely never carried out, authorities said.

Rensing, 42, allegedly hid the scheme by using false and stolen identities to conceal his involvement.

Epix, a joint venture among Viacom Inc., Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., was not identified by name in the charging documents.

But Rensing’s LinkedIn page notes his tenure there from 2009-15. He has also held executive-level positions at AOL and MTV, in addition to launching Next New Networks, which was sold to Google in 2011.

An Epix spokesperson acknowledged that Rensing was terminated by the network in August 2015 and said the network is “cooperating fully with the U.S. attorney’s office in their investigation.”

Epix has partnered with the Los Angeles Times to film and distribute some of the Times’ award-season coverage from 2012-2014.

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