ReutersThree males have been convicted by a German court docket of attempting to blackmail the household of ex-Method 1 champion Michael Schumacher.
Yilmaz T, 53, was jailed for 3 years for threatening to add 900 private images, nearly 600 movies and confidential medical information to the darkish internet except the Schumacher household paid €15m (£12m).
His 30-year-old son was given a six-month suspended sentence for aiding and abetting extortion. A former safety guard at Schumacher’s house, who denied any involvement, acquired a two-year suspended sentence.
Schumacher has not been seen in public since a 2013 ski accident which resulted in severe mind accidents. His household have saved his medical situation non-public.
The daddy and son had admitted many of the prices and Yilmaz T, a nightclub bouncer in Constance in southern Germany, advised the court docket that what he had finished was “very, very disgusting”.
“I realised that on the second day in jail. I’ll reply for it.”
In his confession he mentioned he had acquired two exhausting drives from the safety guard, Markus F, who was accused of passing the delicate information for a “5 determine sum”.
One exhausting drive is believed by no means to have been recovered.
The choose blamed the safety guard for permitting the blackmail try to begin. The Schumacher household’s lawyer mentioned they’d problem his suspended sentence.
Markus F had been working for the household 18 months earlier than Schumacher’s ski accident.
Based on the defence, Schumacher’s spouse Corinna had requested him to digitise the household’s non-public images. They argued that the fabric went lacking after his contract was terminated.
The court docket heard that the daddy and son had emailed the Schumacher household samples of the stolen information.
Recordings of cellphone calls made to the Schumacher household have been additionally performed in court docket.
In one in every of these conversations, Yilmaz T advised the household that fairly than attempting to blackmail them, he was providing to behave as a dealer in returning the information and figuring out their supply in what he known as a “clear deal”.
The household alerted native authorities in Switzerland who tracked the supply of the risk to Germany and the three males have been arrested in June 2024.
The Schumachers’ lawyer, Thilo Damm, mentioned the sentences have been too lenient for what was the “final betrayal” and so they deliberate to attraction.
“We don’t agree with every part the court docket mentioned. You may relaxation assured that we’ll exhaust all authorized prospects at our disposal,” he mentioned.
He additionally voiced concern {that a} exhausting drive remained lacking regardless of a number of searches of the defendants’ properties.
“We do not know the place the lacking exhausting drive is,” Mr Damm mentioned, “I haven’t got a crystal ball however there may be the potential of one other risk via the backdoor.”
