They wanted to make millions: On Wednesday, the police arrested two men from Wuppertal in connection with the blackmail of a celebrity. “Bild” and the German Press Agency quote Wolf-Tilman Baumert, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office, as follows: “We are investigating a case of blackmail to the detriment of a celebrity and have executed arrest warrants in this case.”
At this time, no information can be given as to who the celebrity is. The spokesman also did not provide any further details. “We are in the middle of ongoing investigations and cannot say anything more at this point.” According to information from “Bild”, it is the family of racing legend Michael Schumacher (55).
The family of the seven-time Formula 1 world champion, who had a serious accident in 2013, had already almost fallen victim to a blackmailer. The case at the time attracted attention mainly because of the clumsy actions of the blackmailer Hüseyin B., who had sent a blackmail email to Corinna Schumacher and threatened the children. In 2017, charges were brought against him. He was sentenced to one year and nine months probation for attempted commercial blackmail. He was also fined 4,500 euros, given 50 hours of community service and given therapy.
At the trial, it emerged that although his crime was carried out rather clumsily, he had thought on a large scale when choosing his victims: According to a “Bild” report, the Schumacher family was among them, as was the rental car entrepreneur Erich Sixt.
The perpetrator told the judge that he didn’t have any money worries. But that didn’t stop him from demanding “a small donation of 900,000 euros” from the Schumachers. On February 14, 2016, an email was received at Corinna Schumacher’s stud farm. In it, Hüseyin B. also threatened: “If we don’t receive the money by March 31, 2016, your children will have an accident of some kind. A lot of accidents happen in Formula 4.” Schumacher’s son Mick started as a driver in Formula 4 at the time.
Corinna Schumacher is said to have reported the incident immediately, and in this case too the investigators had an easy job. Hüseyin B. had left his bank details in the email.
