A BOUNCER and his son have been accused of trying to blackmail F1 legend Michael Schumacher’s family out of £12million.
Yilmaz T., 53, and his son, 30, from Wuppertal, western Germany, face up five years in prison if found guilty of the allegations.
The pair are alleged to have “claimed to employees of the Schumacher family” that they had files the family might not want publishing, the public prosecutor’s office said.
They are said to show the former Formula 1 world champion after his skiing accident in 2013, German outlet BILD report, and some were even allegedly sent to the family as proof.
The perpetrators then demanded a payment “in the millions” to prevent the files from being published on the darknet.
It’s claimed Yilmaz T. had these files for several years, although it remains unclear how they came into his possession.
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The report adds that he had previously tried to offer the material to two other people several years ago to help him carry out the blackmail, only for them to refuse.
At the beginning of June, he decided to involve his son in the heinous crime.
But cops were able to track down the extortionists through “technical measures” and arrested them in a discount store parking lot in Groß-Gerau, a town in central German state Hesse, last month.
The pair had been on their way to the southern city of Konstanz, where Yilmaz T. is understood to have a second home and a job on nearby Lake Constance.
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While the dad and son duo were being arrested, investigators visited the Grey nightclub, where Yilmaz T. has been a bouncer since at least 2017.
Authorities also raided seven other properties, including the doorman’s apartment in Wuppertal.
Senior public prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert told BILD that “technical measures made it possible to determine that the blackmailers were operating from Wuppertal.”
An image published by the outlet allegedly shows a police note left on the door of Yilmaz T.’s broken-into apartment.
If found guilty of their crimes, the father and son could spend half a decade behind bars.
According to BILD, the duo are already on probation for another offence involving incitement to acquire, possess and carry weapons and ammunition.
Yilmaz T. had been sentenced to one year and two months in prison but served just two months in pre-trial detention before the remainder of his sentence was suspended.
A judge saw a favourable social prognosis for the bouncer, with the court convinced he would lead a crime-free life “even without the influence of the penal system.”
That’s in spite of his 18 previous convictions.
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.
A well known figure with authorities, Yilmaz T. has been charged with a number of crimes including serious gang theft, assault, threats, fraud and tax evasion.
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.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
