Michael Schumacher's wife breaks silence after three men guilty of blackmail plot to reveal F1 legend's health secrets
18 February 2025, 10:44
Michael Schumacher's wife, Corinna, has made a rare public statement after three men were found guilty of a blackmail plot against the stricken F1 legend.
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The men, one of whom is Schumacher's former bodyguard, Markus Fritsche, were sentenced last week after hard drives containing confidential pictures, videos and medical records were stolen from a computer.
Yilmaz Tozturkan, 53, and IT expert son Daniel Lins, 30, were also involved but denied blackmail, claiming that they were offering the Schumacher family a 'business deal'.
A trial heard more than 1,500 images, videos and confidential medical records were downloaded from a computer and handed to Fritsche, who passed them to Tozturkan.
Tozturkan, a nightclub bouncer, allegedly said he would 'upload them on to the dark web' unless money was paid.
German prosecutors called for the man, who is currently in jail on an unrelated crime, to be jailed for three years.
Read more: Michael Schumacher’s family wins case against publisher over fake AI interview
The Schumacher family has called for at least five years over what they believe is his 'ultimate betrayal'.
Hitting out at the sentences issued, Corinna and the Schumacher family said Fritsche's in particular does not go far enough.
A statement issued on Monday read: "We have appealed against what we consider to be the far too lenient sentence for Mr F.
"In my opinion, he was the mastermind behind this. What still shocks me most is the massive breach of trust. He should receive a punishment that deters any potential copycats."
The Schumacher family also voiced concerns that one hard drive containing sensitive material remained unaccounted for, despite multiple searches of the defendants' properties.
The scheme is said to have taken place after the bodyguard was fired after helping look after Schumacher for eight years. He is then accused of recruiting the other two and hatching the plot to release the images onto the dark web.
Additionally, a nurse who had been dismissed by the family is suspected of being involved in the case but did not appear to testify, citing illness as the reason for her absence.
Schumacher, 55, has not been seen in public since his near-fatal skiing accident in France in 2013, which left the star in a six month induced coma following a severe bleed on the brain.
Schumacher's family have kept the driver's condition private about the star's condition since the accident.
However, a host of attempts have been made by outsiders to glean information on the star's condition.
Following the accident one journalist was seen to dress up as a priest in an attempt to access the star's hospital room.
Schumacher has been cared for by medical professionals at the family home in Switzerland since the accident.It comes after Michael Schumacher’s family were awarded a six-figure sum in damages earlier this year after a fake interview was published by a German women’s magazine last year.
In April last year, Die Aktuelle published a fake interview with the F1 legend, who has not been seen since he suffered life-threatening injuries in the French Alps in 2013.
The magazine presented the 'interview' as Schumacher’s first since his skiing accident.
