the essential
Michael Schumacher's family was the victim of a multi-million euro extortion attempt, before the blackmailers were eventually arrested.
At the end of September, German justice requested a trial for three suspects in a case of attempted blackmail against the Schumacher family.
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Formula 1: Three suspects in the attempted multi-million euro blackmail of the Schumacher family are referred to justice
This Saturday, November 30, the DailyMail also looked into the subject by revealing how such a scheme was put in place. We then learned that a former bodyguard of the seven-time F1 world champion, Markus Fritsche, recruited some time before his tragic skiing accident in December 2013, would have developed a Machiavellian plan out of pure revenge.
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Formula 1: Michael Schumacher's family victims of multi-million euro blackmail attempt
The latter, who would have heard of his future dismissal from the star's entourage, would have managed to obtain no less than 1,500 images, 200 videos, and numerous medical documents from the pilot. This is very sensitive content even though the pilot has never reappeared publicly for 11 years.
This trusted man of the Schumacher clan, whose service he served for 8 years, would then have turned to an old friend, a nightclub bouncer, and his son, a computer expert. It was to them that he sold the USB keys and hard drives, for several thousand euros.
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Michael Schumacher: “I have always been very resilient”, “painful obstacles”… Confidences from the son of the Formula 1 star
It was then that on June 3, the 53-year-old father contacted an employee of the Schumachers several times. In particular to tell him that he had documents on Michael, and that he was going to distribute them on the darknet if he did not receive within the month the trifle of 15 million euros, in two payments, in exchange for the stolen content. . And to send, in a completely anonymous manner, an email with several files to the family to make it clear that he was not bluffing.
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The three blackmailers were eventually arrested, as the Wuppertal public prosecutor's office (Germany) indicated at the end of June. The 50-year-old is currently in detention while his son and the former bodyguard have been released on bail pending trial.
