Three blackmailers have a cased filed against them in a court in Germany after they were found to have been blackmailing the family of Michael Schumacher.
The investigation has been on for few months after the Schumacher family raised a complaint about being blackmailed over the phone. It relates to a former security person of the German family, who leaked personal photos/videos and information to his associates.
The two people hailing from Wuppertal in Germany are father and son – aged 53-years and 30-years – respectively. They got the personal details from the security person and started blackmailing the Schumacher family after digitalising the photos and videos of before and after the skiing incident.
Post the accident, no one has publicly seen the seven-time F1 champion apart from his family and close friends. There has been numerous reports and sayings about his health condition, but no official report has come up from the family.
His son Mick made his F1 debut with Haas, but lost his seat after few years, which forced him to move to endurance racing. The blackmailing, meanwhile, first came to light in June when police started intensive investigation. The father and son duo tried their best to avoid contact or leave any trail behind.
When the family wanted a proof of their possession, they sent it out via a letter and mail, which couldn’t be traced either. But eventually, the investigators could trace back the place from where the calls were being made – nearby in Kassel – which aided in their catch.
They made phone calls demanding 17 million dollars in exchange, as the investigators found two hard drives and four USB-sticks, containing personal information of the Schumacher family. They would have, otherwise, leaked it on the dark web if the family didn’t meet their demands.
The 53-year-old man is charged with serious case of attempted blackmail, with the son accused of being an accomplice to it. Likewise, the former security person is accused of being an accessory to attempted blackmail, along with infringing the privacy laws.
The father and the security person are in custody, but the son isn’t at the moment. The decision to go ahead with the criminal case is now upon the Wuppertal district court. This is a second attempt of blackmail on Schumacher family after a 25-year-old man was handed suspended sentence of 21 months back in 2017, for demanding 900,000 euros.
Here’s German publication Michael Schumacher gimmick punished
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
