Interim conclusion of the public prosecutor: This was intended to blackmail the Schumacher family
Criminals have attempted to blackmail the family of seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher. According to the Wuppertal public prosecutor’s office, the perpetrators told employees of the 55-year-old racing driver that they had files “that the family might be interested in not publishing.”
After searching the private properties, it has now emerged what exactly the criminals had in their hands. “The files that were found have been examined. They actually show photo files from the racing driver’s private family,” senior public prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert confirmed the first interim result of the investigation to WDR. “However, we do not want to make any further statements for tactical reasons.”
According to the Bild newspaper, a payment of 15 million euros was demanded so that the sensitive data would not be published on the darknet. To reinforce their demands, the blackmailers sent some samples of the files to their victims. The family had pretended to enter into negotiations. In the background, however, the police had already been alerted.
Father and son from Wuppertal arrested
By examining the files sent, the authorities were able to find out that the perpetrators were operating from Wuppertal. Further investigations led to the trail of two men aged 53 and 30. They are said to be a father and his son.
Arrest warrants were issued against both of them in mid-June (June 19). The same day, police arrested the two suspects in a supermarket parking lot in Groß-Gerau, Hesse. Both are currently in custody in Wuppertal.
The day before, investigators had already begun searching the apartments of the two men as well as the father’s second home and workplace in Konstanz. In total, eight properties were searched. According to the public prosecutor’s office, several data storage devices were confiscated.
Not the first blackmail attempt
The two suspected perpetrators are currently on probation, the authorities said. According to reports from the Südkurier, the older man is a bouncer who worked for years in the Konstanz discotheque “Grey”, the largest club on Lake Constance. The files are said to have been in the possession of the 53-year-old for some time. They allegedly show the racing driver shortly after his serious skiing accident.
According to Südkurier, the suspect offered the material two years ago to two people with whom he wanted to carry out the blackmail. However, they refused. If convicted, the perpetrators face up to five years in prison.
This is not the first attempt at blackmail against the Schumacher family. In 2016, a man sent an email to his wife Corinna Schumacher in which he threatened to harm their two children Mick and Gina-Maria. He demanded 900,000 euros.
However, the investigators had an easy job at the time because the blackmailer had given his own bank details for the transfer of the money during his botched act. He was arrested quickly and charged in 2017. He was sentenced to one year and nine months probation for attempted commercial blackmail. In addition, he was fined 4,500 euros, as well as community service and therapy.
