Schumacher’s bodyguard was ‘angry F1 legend’s family were sacking him & began £12m blackmail plot to sell pics of star’
BOMBSHELL new details have emerged around the £12million blackmail plot on Michael Schumacher and his family.
German cops have been leading investigations into the Formula One legend’s bodyguard and two others who have been accused of threatening his loved ones.
One of the people allegedly in charge of the sickening plot is Michael’s former bodyguard known as Markus F.
He was allowed inside the famous Schumacher inner circle for upwards of eight years as Michael’s wife Corinna felt he was a trusted aide.
Earlier this year, the relationship drastically declined as Corinna was forced to let Markus go due to changes to her husband’s care plan.
This allegedly turned him bitter as he started to hatch a plan to extort the Schumacher family, the MailOnline reports.
Markus had access to private information around the health and well-being of the seven time world champion and is believed to have started conspiring to reveal it all on the dark web.
Corinna has made sure the health of her 55-year-old husband has remained a closely guarded secret since his 2013 skiing accident.
Markus’ thwarted plan saw him allegedly steal 1,500 secret files from the Schumacher family home.
This sensitive material was believed to have been uploaded onto four USB sticks and two hard drives in the days prior to Markus being let go.
The content included photos, videos, medication lists and even Schumacher’s patient file, BILD reported back in July.
After stealing the information, Markus is then believed to have recruited long-term pal and local bouncer Yilmaz T, say German authorities.
Yilmaz then allegedly used his son Daniel L to help him make contact with the Schumacher family and begin trying to extort them.
Some of the files were even sent to his family as proof via email, prosecutors say.
The trio threatened to sell the content on the dark web where it could have been dumped it into the public domain, German media alleges.
They are accused of asking Corinna for £12million to return the files.
Yilmaz – who had known Markus for over 20 years – was allegedly promised a small commission in return for his help.
On July 4, officers arrested Markus in his apartment in Wülfrath.
They also detained Yilmaz and his son Daniel L. for the alleged blackmail plot.
Authorities said they were able to track down the alleged extortionists through “technical measures”.
Yilmaz T has been charged with extortion and remains in custody.
Daniel L is accused of aiding and abetting extortion but is out on bail.
Markus is also out on bail, it is believed.
The men’s trial is set to take place in December in Wuppertal.
Prosecutors are asking for the men to spend at least four years behind bars if found guilty.
What happened to Michael Schumacher?
MICHAEL Schumacher’s life was hanging by a thread over 10-years-ago as medics tried desperately to keep him alive after a tragic skiing crash.
The F1 legend was left with horrific brain injuries and placed into a coma for 250 days.
He was given the best possible treatment as he 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.