Security guard accused of blackmailing Michael Schumacher and family for $24m
A bodyguard working for the family of Michael Schumacher stands accused of stealing 1,500 photographs and 200 videos in an attempt to blackmail them.
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A bodyguard working for the family of Michael Schumacher stole 1,500 photographs and 200 videos in an attempt to blackmail them for euros 15 million ($24m), prosecutors allege.
Details of the alleged plot have emerged before the trial of three suspects that will open in the German city of Wuppertal this month.
The seven-time Formula One champion, 55, suffered a serious head injury in a skiing accident almost 11 years ago and his wife Corinna has kept information about his condition and 24-hour medical care a secret.
Prosecutors will allege that Markus Fritsche, 53, a bodyguard taken into the family’s inner circle before the skiing accident, used his access to the Schumachers to steal photographs and videos.
For eight years, Fritsche had access to all aspects of the now disabled racing driver’s medical procedures as a key member of the staff looking after him. However, when he was sacked, according to prosecution details in the Daily Mail, he turned against the family.
According to prosecutors, the bodyguard recruited his friend Yilmaz Tozturkan, 53, and Daniel Lins, 30, his son, a computer expert, in a plot to extort millions from the Schumachers. The sensitive material was allegedly held on four USB sticks and two hard drives that Fritsche removed from the Schumachers’ home in Switzerland once he realised he was going to lose his job.
On June 3 Tozturkan allegedly called the Schumachers on a withheld number and threatened to release the stolen material onto the dark web. An employee of the family asked for proof, which was sent via a technically untraceable email address by Lins on June 11.
It allegedly included four images and the ransom demand to be paid in two instalments over the next month. Swiss police were able to trace the caller’s number and the trio were placed under surveillance before being arrested in Germany on June 19.
Tozturkan, a bouncer, and Fritsche have known each other for more than 20 years and live near each other in Wuppertal.
Tozturkan and Fritsche are charged with extortion. Lins is accused of aiding and abetting extortion. Both father and son worked at the Grey nightclub in the German city of Konstanz, which is close to the Swiss border while Fritsche, at the time of his arrest, was working as a security guard at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Dusseldorf.
Tozturkan is in custody while his son and Fritsche are on bail. Prosecutors are seeking sentences of at least four years but they could be given longer terms if convicted by a higher court.
This month Birgit Neubert, a judge in the Wuppertal court, will rule if there is enough evidence to proceed. Dates have been set aside for hearings with the last in February.
During his 19-year career with Ferrari, Mercedes and Benetton, Schumacher won seven world championships, had 91 racing victories and amassed a pounds 468 million fortune.
In 2017 a man, 25, was given a suspended sentence of 21 months for demanding euros 900,000 after threatening to “harm” his son Mick.
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Originally published as Security guard accused of blackmailing Michael Schumacher and family for $24m
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