A former bodyguard who worked for F1 legend Michael Schumacher, has been accused of blackmailing him for €15 Million.
It was alleged in court that Markus Fritsche, aged 53, reportedly obtained 1,500 photos, 200 videos, as well as confidential medical information about Schumacher.
The court was also told that a nurse who cared for Schumacher following his life-changing skiing accident in 2013, may have provided this confidential data, with one of Fritsche's co-defendants alleging that she was the source of this material.
Along with Fritsche, nightclub bouncer Yilmaz Tozturkan, along with his son Daniel Lins, aged 30, has also been accused of being part of this scheme, with all three facing the possibility of jail if convicted.
Tozturkan had claimed that he received the material, including the photos, videos, and medical bills, from Fritsche after they met in a café. He also claimed that it was his understanding that they had been passed to Fritsche "by a nurse", with the pictures showing Schumacher in poor health.
Giving evidence in court, Sabine Kehm, Schumacher's manager who worked for the family for more than 25 years, spoke about the shock blackmail plot which was planned against the Schumachers.
"I got a call, and it was a number we didn’t recognise, so at first we didn’t answer – as we don’t usually, to unrecognised numbers", Kehn began.
"But it kept calling and calling so in the end I answered.’ On the other end of the phone was ‘a man who said he had pictures of Michael – he said that if the family didn’t want them published on the dark web, then he could help. ‘He said he was a go-between, and we would have to pay 15 million euro; he said the money was for the pictures and for his go-between service".
On the photos, Ms Kehm stated: "I recognised them as private photos and when I saw them I thought they could have only come from an employee of ours. ‘I was sure it had to be someone from our internal circle that worked for us, I was suspicious from the first moment that it was someone who no longer worked for us".
The manager also revealed that a nurse involved in Schumacher's care "appeared to get on very well with Fritsche".
She added: "I remember that I used to see Fritsche and this particular nurse standing together and talking. ‘But eventually she left; we had issues with her, we had problems with how care was delivered".
Fritsche, Tozturkan and Lins have been accused of demanding the money after Fritsche was dismissed from job as security guard by the Schumachers in 2021, as well as taking hundreds of private family pictures with him.
It was reported that this material had arrived via a secure email address, set up by IT expert Lins last June. They were reportedly sent to Schumacher's office at his home in Gland, Switzerland.
The three in question were arrested two weeks later. The case which is being held at Wuppertal, near Dusseldorf, is ongoing.
Michael Schumacher has rarely been seen in the public eye since his life-altering skiing accident.
