Alleged Schumacher blackmailers possessed private photos
Published: Wednesday, Jul 3rd 2024, 12:50
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The two suspected blackmailers of the family of former German Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher possessed private photos of the family.
This was the result of the evaluation of data records found, the public prosecutor's office in Wuppertal (North Rhine-Westphalia) announced. The photo files found concerned the private sphere of the Schumacher family.
Further details could not be provided at present for tactical investigative reasons. The intensive investigation is still ongoing, it said. The two suspects, a 53-year-old man and his 30-year-old son, were arrested on June 19 in a supermarket parking lot in Gross-Gerau (Hesse).
Demand for payment in the millions
According to the public prosecutor's office at the time, the perpetrators claimed to employees of the family that they had files that the family would be interested in not publishing. They are said to have demanded a payment in the millions - otherwise they would publish the data on the darknet. As proof, they had sent some files to the family.
The two men are currently in custody. "If convicted, they face a fine or prison sentence of up to five years," said Chief Public Prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert at the end of June. The two are also no strangers to the police: they are currently on probation in another case.
Note from Switzerland
During the current investigation, eight properties were searched, including the main residences of the suspects, the second home and workplace of the older suspect in Constance and rooms of other people, including in Solingen. Several data carriers were found, which are now being analyzed.
The investigation was originally conducted by the public prosecutor's office in Kassel. It was initiated following a tip-off from the prosecution authorities in Switzerland. The "Bild" newspaper first reported on an attempt to blackmail the Schumacher family.
Record Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher was seriously injured in a skiing accident at the end of 2013. He has not appeared in public since then. The family lives in the Swiss canton of Vaud.
Another blackmail attempt
This is not the first attempt to blackmail the former racing driver's family. In 2017, the Reutlingen District Court in Baden-Württemberg sentenced a 25-year-old man for attempting to blackmail Schumacher's wife, Corinna Schumacher, for 900,000 euros. He had threatened that otherwise something would happen to the children.
The man was then sentenced to a suspended sentence of 21 months. In an email to Corinna Schumacher, the painter had given his real account number at a German bank. This enabled the police to track him down within minutes.
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