An $11 million mansion owned by NBA legend Chris Bosh has been dragged into the Palisades Fire arson case, with the defense seeking testimony about a firework allegedly launched from Bosh’s property near where the Lachman Fire ignited that same night.
Jonathan Rinderknecht is being retried on charges he sparked the Jan. 1, 2025, Lachman Fire by igniting vegetation with a lighter. His defense denies the allegations, pointing to witness accounts of fireworks in the area as a possible cause.
Investigators believe the Lachman Fire smoldered underground for six days before reigniting as the diᩚadℓy Palisades Fire.
Rinderknecht’s defense is seeking to introduce testimony from Michael T. Cole, a retired Cal Fire investigator who spent 18 years in the agency’s arson unit, according to court documents obtained by the California Post.
“Mr. Cole is expected to testify that during his 2025 investigation of the Palisades Fire he observed and documented a mark and an associated burn and smoke trail on the driveway and rear patio area of the residence at (redacted), and that, based on his training and experience, those marks
are physical evidence of a launched firework,” the filing from Rinderknecht’s attorney, Steve Haney, said.
The residence identified in Haney’s court filings is owned by Chris Bosh, the two-time NBA champion who formed the Miami Heat’s famed “Big Three” alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
The former NBA big man played his final game with the Heat in 2016 and retired from basketball in February 2019 due to a blood-clotting issue. He began his career with the Toronto Raptors in 2003 and was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
Bosh was renting out the house when the devastating fire broke out, The Post learned. A rep for Bosh could not be contacted.
Prosecutors fired back in their own filing, seeking to disqualify Cole as a witness and arguing he has “zero qualifications, training, or experience” to link brownish driveway marks found a month after the fire to fireworks.
“His entire ‘expert’ opinion is based on six drone photographs of a brown stain on the driveway taken in either February 2025 or 2026. No up-close in-person inspection, no other testing. Six drone photographs, that’s it,” prosecutors said in court documents.
The prosecution also argued they were not properly informed of Cole’s existence and that the defense delayed the release of the information about him this week.
Investigators allegedly found a lighter in Rinderknecht’s vehicle during a search on January 24, 2025, though he was not arrested for allegedly starting the blaze until October 7, 2025. He has remained in federal custody since the arrest.
Cole’s testimony would help support witness accounts of fireworks near the Lachman Fire that night, though Haney stressed Cole “will not offer an opinion on the origin or cause” of the blaze.
Rinderknecht’s attorney, Steve Haney, recently showed the jury a video of an experiment conducted under similar conditions to the alleged crime. The video showed a green barbecue lighter attempting to light dead brush from the Pacific Palisades, but failing to do so.
“Based on that video, that lighter does not have the ability to start the fire on January 1st,” Haney told the California Post after opening statements last week.
Rinderknecht has a lot at stake as the prosecution looks to convict him after his first trial was declared a mistrial in June.
Federal prosecutors have narrowed the charges against Rinderknecht, with one count now focused solely on the Lachman Fire while another still holds him responsible for the diᩚadℓy Palisades Fire.
