Sinister details of a twisted plot to blackmail stricken F1 star Michael Schumacher’s family for GBP 12 million have emerged.
A trusted security guard working for the family is said to have stolen two computer hard drives loaded with more than 1,500 of the German motor racing icon’s medical files.
Local media reports say plot mastermind Markus F., 52, from Wuelfrath, North Rhine-Westphalia State, siphoned off the documents during five years working for the family.
Police searches unearthed the shock documents which contained photographs, videos, medication lists, and other details of Schumacher’s treatment, reports Bild newspaper.
Prosecutors say Markus F. and his nightclub bouncer accomplice Yilmaz T., 53, planned to release the documents on the darknet if Schumacher’s wife Corinna, 55, refused to pay up.
Some documents were even sent to her by the pair as proof, it has emerged.
One hard drive, reports German media, contained 500 photos and images of Schumacher’s severely restricted life since his ski-ing accident more than ten years ago.
The other is reported to contain more than 1,000 files detailing his entire medical history, stolen before Markus F. left his job with the family in 2021.
His wife Corinna and the Schumacher family have fought hard to protect the Ferrari legend’s dignity and privacy since he suffered devastating head injuries on 29th December 2013.
Police have also discovered, according to local media, that Markus F. has more than 100 previous convictions for fraud.
On 3rd June, Yilmaz T. called Schumacher’s office in Switzerland using a concealed phone number.
He claimed he had two hard drives filled with Schumacher’s medical records and threatened to leak them on the darknet.
In another call two days later (5th June), Yilmaz T. said he received the data from a third party.
He was then given an email address to send some of the files to so the family could check their authenticity.
The bouncer’s son Daniel L. then set up an anonymous email address to send the files to the Schumachers.
Later that day Schumacher’s office got an anonymous email containing genuine files and pictures from the star’s medical records.
Then on 17th June, Yilmaz T. called the office again and demanded EUR 15 million (GBP 12.6 million) for the two hard drives.
They were ordered to pay half for the first drive and then, three days later, the remainder for the second.
Instead, Schumacher’s family contacted Swiss police to report the blackmail plot who then worked alongside German cops to investigate the case.
Just days later on 19th June police arrested Markus F. at his home in Wuelfrath.
Yilmaz T. and his son were also seized as accomplices at their home in Hesse.
Police would only say they had been able to track down the plotters through “technical measures”.
Daniel T. has since been released on conditional bail and his passport confiscated.
Markus F. had promised to give his bouncer pal a fraction of the ransom sum and planned to keep the rest for himself, say local media reports.
Wuppertal Senior Public Prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert said: “After the advanced investigations, we currently assume that the accused son may have acted more as an accomplice.”
Baumert added: “The older of the two main suspects named the man from Wuelfrath as the person from whom he claimed to have received the data sets used for blackmail.”
Markus F.’s lawyer, Harald Benninghoven revealed that the security guard has not co-operated with police inquiries.
He said: “On the advice of his lawyer, my client is currently exercising his right to remain silent.
“I am not yet able to give a definitive answer as to whether and to what extent this will change.”
Schumacher suffered life-changing brain injuries in a skiing accident at Meribel, in the French Alps, in 2013.
In a tumble, he hit his head on a rock which caused his helmet to split open.
Since his transfer from hospital in September 2014, the seven-time F1 champion has been under private care at his family residence in Switzerland.
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Story By: Georgina Jedikovska, Sub-Editor: Georgina Jedikovska, Agency: Newsflash
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