Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Three individuals have been found guilty of conspiring to blackmail the family of seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher has been out of the public eye since 2013 after a ski accident resulted in serious brain injuries, as the family decided to keep his medical condition private.
Yilmaz T, a bouncer at a nightclub in southern Germany, has been sentenced to three years in prison for threatening to upload 900 personal photos, approximately 600 videos, and confidential medical records to the dark web unless the Schumacher family paid €15million (£12million).
The 53-year-old’s son received a six-month suspended sentence for aiding and abetting extortion, while a former security guard at Schumacher’s home, who denied involvement, was given a two-year suspended sentence.
Both the father and son admitted to most of the charges against them, with Yilmaz stating in court that his actions were “very, very disgusting.”
“I realised that on the second day in prison, I will answer for it,“ he said.
Yilmaz admitted to receiving two hard drives from the security guard, Markus F, who was accused of passing the sensitive files for a “five-figure sum”.
It is believed that one of the hard drives was never recovered.
The judge criticized the security guard for allowing the blackmail scheme to start, while the Schumacher family’s lawyer announced they would contest his suspended sentence.
Markus had been working for the family for 18 months before Schumacher’s ski accident.
According to the defence, Schumacher’s wife, Corinna, had asked him to digitize the family’s private photos.
They claimed that the material went missing after his contract was terminated.
