The security guard of Michael Schumacher, Markus F, has been arrested for attempting to sell photos of the former Formula 1 pilot, who has not made public appearances since his skiing accident in 2013, in an extortion attempt of over $15.3 million.
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Markus, who was once a trusted employee of the family, allegedly wanted to clear debts and hired Yilmaz T and his son to assist in the extortion. The plan involved turning private photos of Schumacher into digital files and threatening to release them, forcing the family to pay millions to keep the images off the dark web.
The three men approached close associates of Schumacher’s wife, Corinna, claiming to have a file containing secrets about the pilot’s health. The family, who has kept Schumacher’s health condition secret since the accident, was threatened with the release of this information if they did not pay up.
Authorities managed to track and arrest the blackmailers through technical measures and seized various pieces of evidence from the suspects’ properties.
This is not the first time the Schumacher family has faced threats related to Michael Schumacher’s health. In 2016, Corinna received a threatening email from Hüseyin B, who was swiftly arrested and convicted. More recently, in May, the family won over $217,000 in a lawsuit against a magazine that published a fake AI-generated interview with the former pilot.
Source: The Sun | This content was created with the help of AI.