By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The former chief digital officer of the Epix cable television network was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he defrauded it of more than $8 million.
Emil Rensing, 42, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at his residence in Manhattan and charged in a criminal complaint with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, authorities said.
Rensing was expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan later on Tuesday. A lawyer for the defendant could not be immediately identified.
The complaint alleged that while working at Epix, described in court papers as a premium movie network, from April 2010 to August 2015, Rensing caused it to contract with vendor companies he owned to perform digital media services.
Those services were largely never performed and while the contracts listed several of Rensing's former professional associates and business partners as vendor personnel, they had never heard of the vendors, the complaint said.
Rensing hid the scheme by using false and stolen identities to conceal his involvement, the complaint said.
Epix was not identified by name in the charging documents. But Rensing's LinkedIn profile says he worked at Epix during the period in question.
Representatives for Epix, a joint venture between Viacom Inc, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc [MGMYR.UL], did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is U.S. v. Rensing, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-mj-2650.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)