Germany: 3 convicted in Michael Schumacher blackmail plot
February 13, 2025
A German court has convicted three men over their roles in a plot to blackmail the family of Formula One legend Michael Schumacher.
Two of the men — a father and son named only as Yilmaz T. and Daniel L. — were accused of threatening to release private photos and videos of Schumacher on the dark web if they were not paid €15 million ($15.6 million).
The father, 53, received a three-year jail sentence while the son, 30, was handed a six-month suspended sentence by the regional court in the western city of Wuppertal on Wednesday.
The third, a former security guard identified only as Markus F. who worked for the family at its Switzerland residence, was sentenced to two years' probation after being accused of selling the images to the two blackmailers for a reported five-figure sum.
The verdicts can still be appealed.
Schumacher, 56, a seven-time Formula One champion, has not appeared in public since a 2013 skiing accident in the French Alps left him with a severe brain injury.
Hundreds of pictures and videos
The material collected by the blackmailers included 900 pictures and almost 600 videos of Schumacher and his family, as well as the racing legend's digitized medical records, the public prosecutor's office said.
Recordings of the calls made to the family in which the pair demanded money were played in the courtroom
The father, who worked as a nightclub bouncer in the southern German town of Constance, expressed regret for his crime during the trial, which began in December.
"It's a very, very disgusting thing that I did. I realized that on the second day in prison. I will answer for it," he said.
The third defendant denied the accusations against him through his lawyer.
Michael Schumacher, who competed in Formula One from 1991 to 2006 and then from 2010 to 2012, jointly holds the seven-time record for the most Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Lewis Hamilton.
His family has maintained silence about his state of health since his 2013 accident.
Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar