German prosecutors introduced costs on Wednesday in opposition to three males for allegedly blackmailing the household of famend former Formula One driver Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher, a record-breaking world champion, suffered extreme accidents in a snowboarding accident in late 2013 and has not been seen in public since. His household has stored particulars of his situation non-public.
According to the general public prosecutor’s workplace in Wuppertal, a former safety worker of the Schumacher household is accused of offering non-public recordings used within the blackmail scheme, whereas one other man and his son are alleged to have carried out the extortion try.
Prosecutors stated the alleged perpetrators made a number of calls to the Schumacher household demanding 15 million euros ($17 million). They allegedly threatened to publish delicate non-public information on the web if the cash wasn’t paid.
The materials used for the crime was reportedly obtained by a person who had beforehand labored as a safety service supplier for the Schumacher household and was chargeable for digitizing non-public photographs.
Authorities seized numerous potential proof objects, comparable to exhausting drives, USB sticks and cell telephones, through the man’s arrest.
German police launched their investigation after receiving a tip from Swiss regulation enforcement. According to investigators, “technical measures” in the end revealed that the suspected blackmailers have been working from Wuppertal.
This case isn’t the primary time Schumacher’s household has been subjected to an alleged blackmail try. In 2017, a court docket in southern Germany convicted a 25-year-old man for making an attempt to blackmail Schumacher’s spouse, Corinna Schumacher, for 900,000 euros.
That man had threatened that in any other case one thing would occur to the youngsters, however he was caught partly as a result of he included his precise checking account info in an e-mail to Corinna Schumacher. He obtained a suspended sentence of 21 months.
Source: www.dailysabah.com