Two men admit to blackmailing the Schumacher family

Three men tried to extort money from Michael Schumacher’s family. If two of them confessed to the facts, the third denies the accusations.

During the trial for attempted extortion from the family of former Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, the main defendant and his son confessed. “I answer for my actions. I did this stupid thing,” the 53-year-old man from Wuppertal told the district court of the German city. “Tell the family I’m sorry,” he added Tuesday, on the first day of the trial.

According to the prosecution, the blackmailer had tried to extract 15 million euros from the Schumacher family, by threatening to publish photos and private videos of the pilot on the darknet, about which nothing has been known since 2013. The trial must continue with the hearing of witnesses. However, a judgment is not expected before the new year.

The main defendant said he had received two hard drives containing photo and video material from a man, also in court, who worked as a security guard for Michael Schumacher’s family until March 2021. The latter allegedly told him that he got this data from a nurse. “I wanted to return them. I thought I could make some money from this story. The sum had to be divided by three. Between 10 and 15 million euros, that must have been it. I then directly asked for 15,” said the alleged main perpetrator, called to the stand.

The man who confessed to the facts is in pre-trial detention. He is accused of serious attempted extortion, his son and the third thief being only prosecuted for complicity. “I admit my mistake,” said his 30-year-old child, co-accused. The latter had created the email address used by his father, recorded the video of a conversation held by his father with an employee of the Schumacher family and sent emails, always on his father’s behalf. He only learned late that it was Michael Schumacher.

The main accused, standing, speaking to his lawyer.Image: keystone

The third accused denies the facts

The other accomplice, who temporarily lived with the Schumacher family at their property in Switzerland, had his lawyer read a statement. He admits that the family had commissioned him, among other things, to digitize images. But when his mission ended, his room was reportedly ransacked just before he came to collect his belongings. A hard drive would then have disappeared and would never have been found. “My client has nothing to do with this case,” the defense lawyer said on the sidelines of the hearing.

Since a serious head injury during a skiing accident at the end of 2013, Michael Schumacher has lived as a recluse. At the opening of the trial, the court authorized his wife, Corinna, to become a civil party. She is represented by a lawyer throughout the procedure.

Data sensitive

A spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office said that not only 900 photos and almost 600 videos of the family had been seized, but also the digitized medical file of Michael Schumacher. He added that the data was extremely sensitive. The criminal record of the main alleged perpetrator is not clean. He would have been on probation at the time of the events.

(t-online/roc)

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