Blackmail against the Michael Schumacher family: three men identified, facing 15 years
Yesterday at 07:45 AM
German prosecutors have brought charges against three men arrested this year for an alleged blackmail scheme targeting the family of Michael Schumacher.
We all remember that December 29, 2013, when the German world champion had the accident while skiing on vacation, changing his life forever. Since then, there has been no reliable news about his actual health condition, but over the years, many have speculated about his situation, leading to the Schumacher family being blackmailed just a few months ago.
The main suspect behind the scheme is a 53-year-old man from the western city of Wuppertal, who threatened to release private photos and videos of the seven-time Formula 1 world champion, demanding a ransom of 15 million euros from the family. Among the files he possesses are photographs of the German before and after the skiing accident in the French Alps in 2013, which caused him a severe brain injury.
According to The Guardian, the images were allegedly shared by another 53-year-old man from the western city of Wülfrath, who worked as a security guard for the Schumacher family until 2021. He is suspected of having sold the material for a “five-figure” sum and could face significant prison time for being complicit in an attempted blackmail and violating privacy.
Prosecutors state that the main suspect called a Schumacher family employee multiple times in June of this year to demand money, threatening to distribute the images on the dark web if he was not paid. For this reason, he is now accused of attempted blackmail, facing a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, although he may serve fewer years since the threat was not carried out.
Additionally, the 30-year-old son of the Wuppertal man has been accused of being complicit in the blackmail, as he helped his father by creating an untraceable email address that was used to send samples of the blackmail material to the Schumacher family.
The world champion’s wife promptly alerted the Swiss authorities after the incident, as Switzerland is where Michael Schumacher received treatment after the accident. After some investigation, authorities discovered that the scheme originated from Germany due to the phone number used to call the family.
This is not the first blackmail attempt that Michael Schumacher’s loved ones have faced since there have been no updates on Michael. In 2017, a 25-year-old man was sentenced to one year and nine months suspended and fined 4,500 euros plus 50 hours of community service after sending a threatening email to Corinna Schumacher, threatening her children. Last May, a similar incident occurred, but this time the perpetrator was the German magazine Die Aktuelle, which published an interview with the former Formula 1 driver that was entirely generated by AI.
We can only wait for further developments in the case involving the three German men, hoping that everything can be resolved in the best way for the Schumacher family.
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