Blackmail case against Schumachers: Three years in prison for the main defendant

Blackmail case against Schumachers: Three years in prison for the main defendant

In a dramatic blackmail case against the family of Formula 1 record world champion Michael Schumacher, the Wuppertal district court imposed harsh penalties on Wednesday. The main defendant, a 53-year-old who threatened to publish confidential images and video materials, was sentenced to three years in prison. His son received a suspended sentence of six months. Both had tried to extort 15 million euros from the Schumacher family, which was classified as attempted extortion in a particularly serious case, as oe24 reports.

Collaboration with former security employee

Also co-defendant was a former employee of a security company that was responsible for monitoring the Schumacher property in Switzerland. He received a suspended sentence of two years, which was not enough for Schumacher's family. Corinna Schumacher, who was represented by a lawyer at the hearing, called for a harsher sentence of four years for the security employee because she was of the opinion that he had made the blackmail possible by stealing the files. The main defendant and his son had largely admitted the allegations and apologized, while the former security employee denied any involvement and remained silent on the last day of the trial ran.de reported.

The court's sentences largely follow the demands of the public prosecutor's office, but not the demands of the co-plaintiffs. Michael Schumacher himself suffered serious head injuries in a skiing accident in 2013 and has not spoken in public since. Since then, the family has made every effort to protect his privacy and does not allow any information about his health to be leaked.