Schumacher blackmail: suspected accomplice arrested

Crime - Schumacher blackmail: suspected accomplice arrested

In the case of the attempted extortion of the family of former Formula-1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, the police have arrested a suspected accomplice. He is a 52-year-old man who had worked as a security guard for the family, stated Oberstaatsanwalt Wolf-Tilman Baumert in Wuppertal. The man was arrested in Wülfrath at Wuppertal on Thursday. A large number of other evidence was secured during the arrest. These will now be evaluated.

The investigators had arrested the two alleged extortionists of the family about two weeks ago. According to the prosecutor's office, the 53-year-old man and his 30-year-old son possessed private photos of the Schumacher family. The discovered photo data concerned the private sphere of the Schumacher family.

During the investigation into where the two obtained the photos from the private life and immediate environment of the family, they eventually came across the 52-year-old. Michael Schumacher had been seriously injured in a skiing accident at the end of 2013. Since then, he has not appeared publicly.

Demand for payment in millions

The perpetrators had claimed through intermediaries to have data in their possession that the family might be interested in keeping private. They were reportedly demanding a payment in millions - otherwise, they would publish the data on the Darknet. As evidence, they had sent some files to the family.

The investigation was initiated based on a tip from criminal prosecution authorities in Switzerland and was originally being conducted by the Staatsanwaltschaft Kassel. Through "technical measures," the investigators were able to determine, according to their information, that the alleged extortionists were operating from Wuppertal. The two 53 and 30-year-old suspects were arrested on June 19 at a supermarket car park in Groß-Gerau, Hesse. The two are known to the police in another matter, according to the investigators.

Further extortion attempt

This is not the first attempt to extort the family of the former racing driver. In 2017, the Amtsgericht Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg sentenced a 25-year-old man because he had tried to extort Corinna Schumacher for 900,000 Euro. He had threatened that something would happen to the children otherwise. The man was sentenced to a probation period of 21 months.

1. The arrest of the suspected accomplice in the Formula 1 blackmail case took place in Wülfrath, a town near Wuppertal, Germany.
2. The 52-year-old man, who previously worked as a security guard for the Schumacher family, is accused of being an accomplice in the extortion attempt.
3. The main blackmailers, a 53-year-old man and his 30-year-old son, were arrested earlier in a supermarket car park in Groß-Gerau, Hesse.
4. The Schumacher family had received threats of data publication on the Darknet if they did not pay a large sum of money.
5. Investigators believe the blackmailers had obtained private photos of the Schumacher family and were using them as leverage.
6. Michael Schumacher, the former Formula 1 World Champion, has not appeared publicly since his skiing accident in 2013.
7. The initial investigation into the matter was conducted by the Staatsanwaltschaft Kassel, but it was later expanded due to "technical measures" indicating operations from Wuppertal.
8. This is not the first time the Schumacher family has been targeted in an extortion attempt; in 2017, a man was sentenced in Baden-Württemberg for attempting to extort Corinna Schumacher.

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