A German court has convicted three individuals of attempting to extort the family of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher.
The main conspirator received a prison sentence of three years. On Wednesday, the Wuppertal district court found all three, including the 53-year-old leader and his son, guilty of trying to obtain money by threatening to release videos and photos of the former world champion.
The leader was sentenced to prison, whereas his son and a third man, a former security firm employee tasked with safeguarding the family’s Swiss residence, were given suspended sentences. Schumacher has remained out of the public eye since sustaining a severe brain injury in a skiing accident during a family holiday in the French Alps in December 2013. The Schumacher family strictly controls information about his condition, allowing access only to those closest to him.
In the previous year, his family obtained a settlement of 200,000 euros (equivalent to $207,840) from the publishers of a German magazine that had published an AI-created ‘interview’ with the seven-time Formula One world champion.
