Three men condemned the German court to try to blackmail the family of former Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.
Yilmaz T, 53, was in prison for three years to threaten to transfer 900 personal photos to the dark network, almost 600 videos and confidential medical records, unless the Schumacher family paid € 15 million (£ 12m).
His 30-year-old son received a six-month suspended sentence for helping and supporting extortion. Former security guard in Schumacher’s home, who denied any involvement, received a two -year suspended sentence.
Schumacher has not been seen in public since the 2013 ski accident, resulting in serious brain injuries. His family kept his health private.
The father and son acknowledged most of the accusations, and Yilmaz T, a night club ejector in Constance in southern Germany, told the court that what he had done was “very, very disgusting.”
“I realized it was the second day of prison. I’ll answer that.”
In his acknowledgment, he said he had received two hard disks from security guards, Markus F -a, who was accused of conveying sensitive files for “five figures”.
One hard drive is believed to have never been recovered.
The judge blamed the security guards for allowing an attempt to blackmail. The Schumacher family lawyer said he would challenge his suspended sentence.
Markus F worked for the family 18 months before Schumacher’s ski accident.
According to defense, Schumacher’s wife Corinna asked him to digitize family private photographs. They claimed that the material had disappeared after his contract was terminated.
The court heard that the father and son had sent e -the samples of the Schumacher family from the stolen files.
Schumacher -based phone calls are also reproduced in court.
In one of these conversations, Yilmaz T told the family that instead of trying to blackmail them, he offered to act as a broker in the restore files and identifies their source in what he called “pure contract.”
The family warned the local authorities in Switzerland who followed the source of threat to Germany, and three men were arrested in June 2024.
Schumachers lawyer, Thilo Damm, said the penalties were too milder for what was “ultimate betrayal” and planned to complain.
“We do not agree with everything the court said. You can be sure that we will exhaust all legal capabilities at our disposal,” he said.
He also expressed concern that the hard drive remained missing despite multiple searches of the accused properties.
“We do not know where the missing disk is,” said Mr. Damm, “I do not have a crystal ball, but there is a possibility of another threat through the back.”
