Three men convicted of trying to blackmail Michael Schumacher's family

The state of health of Michael Schumacher is one of the best-kept secrets in the small world of motorsport. Victim of a skiing accident at the end of 2013, the former driver has not appeared in public since, his family wanting to preserve his privacy. But a man wanted to break the secret of the Red Baron's state of health by threatening his family to publish photos of him on the darknet.

The blackmailer was demanding 15 million euros from the Schumacher family, but was caught without having received a single cent. Yilmaz T., aged 53, has just been sentenced to three years in prison by the Wuppertal court (Germany). His son Daniel was also given a six-month suspended sentence for helping his father send data from an untraceable email address.

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A third man was also convicted: the family's former security guard. Schumacher. Employed until March 2021, he sold between 2022 and 2024 to Yilmaz T. photos of Michael Schumacher taken after his accident and copied without the family's consent. He himself was sentenced to two years in prison.

The first two men expressed regret during the trial, but the former security guard maintained his innocence through his lawyer. The Schumacher family announced that they would appeal the sentences, while all three convicts had criminal records.