Three suspects to face trial for attempted blackmail of Schumacher family

Two of the suspects in the case are a 53-year-old father and his 30-year-old son, both living in Wuppertal (North Rhine-Westphalia). The two men are accused of trying to swindle the family Schumacher 15 million euros by threatening to publish intimate data on the darknet, a confidential and clandestine part of the Internet, according to a press release from the public prosecutor's office, relayed by Agence France Presse.

The leak of this data would come from a former security agent of the family. Still according to the AFP dispatch, the latter would have sold them " for a five-figure amount " with the aforementioned father. The former security guard is accused of having copied this data without permission " at the latest when he left his post in March 2021 "These stolen items are said to be sensitive images of Michael Schumacher before and after his skiing accident in 2013 in Méribel (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) at the end of 2013 a skiing accident resulting in serious head trauma.

Around June 3, the eldest of the blackmailers allegedly called a family employee several times to extort the 15 million euros from her. She allegedly demanded proof from her interlocutor, who then called on his son to send the photos via an email address known to be untraceable. The eldest of the blackmailers risks between one and fifteen years in prison, while his son, accused of complicity, risks a lesser sentence.

The former Schumacher family security guard faces two charges: complicity in attempted blackmail and invasion of privacy. According to the Wuppertal prosecutor's office, he faces a prison sentence of " strict ».

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