THE mastermind accused of a blackmail plot against F1 ace Michael Schumacher has been revealed as a family bodyguard, say German cops.
Two other men have also been arrested after they are alleged to have threatened to release secret pictures of the injured star if they weren’t given over £12million from his stricken family.
The first two men arrested were a father and son duo accused of trying to plot against the Schumacher family.
Yilmaz T., 53, and his son, 30, from Wuppertal, western Germany, face up five years in prison if found guilty of the allegations.
A third man involved in the case has now also been arrested.
The 52-year-old has been described as the “mastermind” behind the plot, say German cops.
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He worked as a security guard for the Schumacher family, claim the public prosecutor’s office in Wuppertal.
His role is alleged to have been turning private pictures of the family into digital files so they could be transferred to Yilmaz T and his son.
The man was detained on Thursday in Wülfrath as a large number of evidence was also seized from his property.
Family employees close to wife Corinna Schumacher were said to have been approached by the trio who claimed to have found a file of secrets on the F1 driver.
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Michael, who hasn’t been seen or heard from for over a decade after a horror ski crash, has been looked after by his close-knit family since the accident.
According to the Wuppertal office, the men said the family wouldn’t want the files to become public due to what they contained.
To keep the information private the trio reportedly demanded they were sent millions to keep the information off the dark web.
The suspects were even alleged to have sent some of the files to the family as proof, said prosecutors in June.
Cops were able to track down the extortionists through “technical measures”, it was announced last month.
The Schumacher family have been tormented over Michael’s health 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.
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.”
In May, the Schumacher family were awarded £170,000 in compensation after a magazine published a fake AI-generated interview with the racing legend.
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.
German publication Die Aktuelle claimed to have secured a “world exclusive” with the severely injured Ferrari great last April despite Michael not being seen publicly since his 2013 skiing accident.
In a two-page spread, promoted with a picture of Schumacher, it claimed the seven-time F1 champ had said “My life has totally changed”.
The sickening bot even spoke about the racing hero’s physical condition, family and future recovery prospects.
Another legal battle in 2016 was waged after German magazine Bunte reported the racing legend “could walk”.
The court case led to a few small pieces of information being revealed, with Schumacher’s lawyers confirming he still couldn’t walk.
Corinna also reportedly led the effort to hide a ghoulish photo of the F1 legend that was reportedly snapped and then smuggled out by a “friend” and offered around to news outlets for a whopping £1million.
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German prosecutors called the disgusting act a “violation of his personal range of life” and breach of privacy.
Corinna reportedly demanded the cops take action, but the media outlet refused to reveal its source – and also claimed it never saw any of the images of Schumacher.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
