Extortionists demand £12 million from Schumacher family, trio arrested
General
- Corwin Kunst
German police have arrested a number of individuals who tried to extort Michael Schumacher's family. It was alleged by these men that they had photographs of Schumacher just after the skiing accident in 2013. £12 million was demanded, otherwise the images - and other highly sensitive information - would become public. Police quickly tracked down the extortionists.
One of the men arrested is 52-year-old Markus F. He worked as a security guard for the family for more than five years, according to the public prosecutor in Wuppertal. He was arrested after Yilmaz T. (53) and his 30-year-old son had previously been handcuffed. Indeed, when these two were arrested, many private photos of the Schumacher family were found.
Not much later, Markus F was also arrested as the third member of the group operating together. He allegedly stole two hard drives - containing more than 1,500 files - with medical and health data of Michael Schumacher, according to German newspaper Bild. Some files were even sent to the Schumacher family to prove that they were actually genuine documents.
Since the skiing accident, we don't really know how the seven-time world champion is doing. The family does not go public with news about his condition, although small rumours do seep through mouthfuls.
Previous extortion attempt
In 2016, someone also made an attempt to extort the family. Michael Schumacher's wife then received an e-mail threatening that something would be done to her children (and Michael's, that is). Only upon payment of 900,000 euros would this not happen. This extortionist was also arrested by the police fairly quickly.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy