SCHUEY PLOT
Bouncer behind £12m Michael Schumacher blackmail plot jailed after threatening to release secret files of F1 star
This isn't the first time Schumacher's inner circle has been targeted by fiends
A NIGHTCLUB bouncer who was the architect behind a plot to blackmail Michael Schumacher for £12million has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Yilmaz Tozturkan, 53, and two other men were arrested after hard drives containing private pictures, medical records, and videos of the Formula One legend were stolen.
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Tozturkan and his 30-year-old son Daniel Lins were accused of demanding £12 million from the Schumacher family.
The pair from Wuppertal in western Germany threatened to release 1,500 confidential files about the motorsport legend, on the dark web, if they did not get the money.
These files allegedly included information on the F1 champion after his skiing accident in 2013 - when the driver was last seen in public.
A third man, the Schumacher familys ex bodyguard, Markus Fritsche was also on trial for the shocking extortion plot.
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Tozturkan, who is currently behind bars for an unrelated crime, confessed and was handed a three years sentence.
His son also confessed and was handed a six month suspended sentence.
Ex-bodyguard Fritsche denied any involvement in the plot but was handed a two year suspended prison sentence.
Fritsche was accused of supplying the blackmailers with the images.
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Prosecutors said the former security guard for the family sold the images of Schumacher for what was described as a five-figure sum.
The father was given an email, by Schumacher's office, to send the files as proof he had them.
Michael Schumacher security guard ‘tried to blackmail stricken F1 star for £12million so he could pay off his debts'
Tozturkan brought his son into the mix when he reportedly set an anonymous email up, per .
The father and son were arrested on June 9 when police stopped them in a parking lot.
The pair made admissions of guilt at the start of their trial.
Tozturkan said: "I am very sorry and ashamed.
"I will take responsibility for what I have done."
The Schumacher family also expressed their worry that some confidential material might still be missing, despite several searches of the defendants properties.
Schumacher's lawyer, Thilo Damm, revealed he might consider an appeal on some of the sentences, per BILD.
He said: "We do not agree with all of the court's statements, in particular that Mr. F. is only accused of aiding and abetting and not of complicity.
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What happened to Michael Schumacher?
MICHAEL Schumacher’s life was hanging by a thread 10-years-ago as medics tried desperately to keep him alive after a tragic skiing crash that left him with horrific brain injuries.
The F1 legend was given the best possible treatment as he was put into a medically induced coma, had his body temperature lowered and underwent hours of tricky operations on his brain.
Back in 2013, the retired seven-time world champion, and his then 14-year-old son set off on the Combe de Saulire ski run in the exclusive French resort of Meribel.
Footage from his helmet camera revealed he was not travelling at excessive speed when his skis struck a rock hidden beneath the snow.
He catapulted forward 11.5ft and crashed into a boulder head first that split his helmet into two and left him needing to be airlifted to hospital for two life-saving operations.
At one point his family were told to brace themselves for the worst case scenario as the situation was much worse than originally believed.
At the time, medics said Schumacher was likely to stay in an induced coma for at least 48 hours as his body and mind recovered.
But the coma ended up lasting 250 days - more than eight months.
After he woke up in June 2014, he was discharged from hospital and sent to his home in Lake Geneva to get further treatment.
Since then his wife Corinna and his inner circle of friends have expertly avoided almost anything leaking out about his health status.
Only small amounts of information have been released including reports that Schumacher was in a wheelchair but can react to things around him.
In 2019, it was said that Schumacher was set to undergo breakthrough stem cell therapy in a bid to regenerate and rebuild his nervous system.
Renowned France cardiologist Dr Philippe Menasche, who had operated on him previously, was set to carry out the treatment that would see cells from his heart go to his brain.
Following the treatment at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, he was said to be "conscious", although few other details were given about his state.
"You can rest assured that we will exhaust all legal remedies at our disposal."
ANOTHER ONE
This isn't the first time Schumacher's inner circle, headed up by wife Corinna, has been targeted by fiends in the past.
In 2016, a 25-year-old man known as Hüseyin B sent a threatening email to Corinna targeting the couple's children.
The mum-of-two quickly passed on the email to the police who swiftly tracked down the painter.
After being arrested, the thug was sent to court where a judge sentenced him for a year and nine months behind bars.
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The perpetrator was reportedly caught after he told Corinna to send him the money to his personal bank account - something the police easily traced back.
At the hearing, judge Eberhard Hausch said: "To put it gently, putting your own account number there is not very smart."
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