Sickening details of $15m Michael Schumacher blackmail plot scheme with two men charged

Details of the alleged blackmail plot involving Michael Schumacher have emerged, following the arrest of a suspect in Switzerland.

A blackmail plot involving Michael Schumacher and his family has come to light in recent weeks, in which the alleged perpetrators were seeking £12 million in exchange for their silence.

Details of Michael Schumacher blackmail plot emerge

Two men have been accused of attempting to blackmail Michael Schumacher’s family, having threatened to reveal details of Schumacher’s current health condition on the internet.

Schumacher has not been seen in public since suffering a life-changing skiing accident over the winter of 2013/’14, with his family protecting his privacy as he continues his rehabilitation in his home in Switzerland.

According to reports in German media, two men attempted to extort £12 million from Schumacher’s wife Corinna, who has led the family’s decision to maintain a thick veil of silence and privacy around the seven-time F1 World Champion.

With German law preventing the naming of the suspects beyond first names, a man named Markus F is alleged to have stolen two hard drives of medical information relating to Schumacher, with the suspect reported to have been part of the security detail for the Schumacher family for over five years.

The drives are said to have contained over 1500 files pertaining to Schumacher, including photos, videos, documentation relating to his treatment, as well as medication lists. Some of these files have even been reported as having been sent to the Schumachers in order to prove their veracity.

A second man, named Yilmaz T, who was allegedly hired to take part in the plot, is reported as having called Schumacher’s offices in Switzerland on June 3rd. Using a private number, he revealed the details of the drivers on the call and threatened to leak them on the ‘dark web’.

Yilmaz T is reported as working as a bouncer for a nightclub on Lake Constance.

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In a back-and-forth exchange with the Schumacher office, Yilmaz T was sent an email address to send the files to prove the alleged perpetrators were in possession of them – the email was sent, with the alleged perpetrator’s son Daniel L reported to have been involved in the creation of an anonymous email address to send the proof across.

With Schumacher’s office having received proof of possession and having received a demand for £12 million in exchange for the two hard drives, handed out over two separate transactions, Schumacher’s family promptly went straight to Swiss authorities to report the alleged blackmail plot.

Following an investigation from Swiss and German police, Markus F was arrested in his apartment in Wulfrath, as well as Yilmaz T and Daniel L for their part in the plot. Daniel has since been released on bail, with his older brother Julian having posted the €10,000 figure on his behalf.

Authorities said they were able to track down the alleged extortionists through “technical measures”.

Senior public prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert, spokesman for the Wuppertal public prosecutor’s office, said: “After the advanced investigations, we currently assume that the accused son may have acted more as an accomplice.”

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