Charges pressed after trio arrested in €15m Schumacher family blackmail case

Michael Schumacher sitting in his Ferrari at the Belgian Grand Prix. Spa-Francorchamps August 1998.

German prosecutors have filed criminal charges against three men who allegedly tried to blackmail Michael Schumacher’s family by threatening to release private information, including photographs.

One of the men charged was a former member of the Schumacher’s security detail.

Three men have been charged with trying to blackmail Schumacher’s family

Schumacher’s family has been fiercely protective of the seven-time F1 World Champion’s privacy since his life-changing ski-ing accident in December 2013.

But almost from day one they’ve had to deal with people trying to invade his privacy with a journalist dressing up as a priest in an attempt to access his hospital room while he was still in a coma.

That was followed by ‘secret’ photographs that the family did not authorise and a dubious AI-generated ‘fake’ interview with the Ferrari legend.

This week, German prosecutors in Wuppertal filed charges against three men accused of trying to blackmail the family by private information including photographs taken before and after Schumacher’s accident.

One of the men was a a former member of the Schumacher’s security detail, the other two a father and son who reportedly do not have any connection to the family.

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The former security person is accused of making the material available to the other two in exchange for a “five-figure” sum. They in turn tried to blackmail the family, demanding €15 million or they’d publish the information.

The chief suspect has been charged with attempted blackmail which carries a maximum jail sentence of up to 15 years while his son has been charged with being an accomplice to blackmail

The former security person could face a “considerable” jail term on charges of being an accomplice to attempted blackmail and breach of privacy.

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