3 men found guilty in blackmail attempt of Schumacher's family

WUPPERTAL, Germany (AP) — Three men have been found guilty in a case of attempted blackmail against Formula 1 great Michael Schumacher’s family.

The perpetrators demanded 15 million euros ($15.6 million) from the family to avoid releasing hundreds of private photos and videos of the family as well as digitized copies of Schumacher’s medical records.

A district court in Wuppertal, western Germany, sentenced the main defendant to three years in prison, while his son received a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of 1,200 euros, news agency dpa reported on Wednesday. The main defendant had previous convictions.

Another defendant, a former security guard for the family, received a two-year suspended sentence and a fine of 2,400 euros for aiding and abetting the other two men. Judge Birgit Neubert said the former security worker made the most significant contribution to the crime through his breach of trust, dpa reported.

The Schumacher family was threatened with the release of the private material on the darknet. The public prosecutor’s office said some 900 pictures and nearly 600 videos of the family and Schumacher’s digitized medical records were confiscated from the perpetrators. A hard drive remained missing.

Representing the Schumacher family, lawyer Thilo Damm said the family will appeal in the case against the former security guard, against whom they wanted a four-year prison term.

While the other two defendants confessed to the charges, the security guard’s lawyer denied the charges and demanded an acquittal. He said his client had not stolen the sensitive data.

The family has shielded Schumacher from public view since his serious skiing accident in December 2013. Schumacher was skiing in the French Alps at Meribel when he fell and his head hit a rock, resulting in a near-fatal brain injury. Since being transferred from hospital in September 2014, the seven-time F1 champion has been cared for privately at a family home in Switzerland.

Schumacher retired from F1 in 2012 after winning 91 races, and five straight titles with Ferrari from 2000-04. The German driver’s other two titles were with Benetton in 1994-95.

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