A German court has sentenced a nightclub bouncer to three years in jail over a plot to blackmail Michael Schumacher’s family for €15 million (£12.5m).
Yilmaz Tozturkan is one of three people to have been sentenced over the plan. His son Daniel Lins was given a six-month suspended sentence for his role, according to reports in German media. Markus Fritsche, Schumacher’s former bodyguard, was given a two-year suspended sentence.The trial found Tozturkan obtained over 1,500 files including images, videos and medical records and told the Schumacher family the private material would be uploaded to the dark web unless payment was made. Tozturkan expressed regret for his actions during the trial.
The Schumacher family’s lawyer Thilo Damm described the sentences as “lenient” and said they would appeal against them. The family also expressed concerns that not all of the sensitive material obtained by the defendants had been recovered despite several searches of their properties.
The seven-times world champion, who retired from Formula 1 in 2012, has not been seen in public since suffering a serious brain injury in a skiing crash in France during December 2013.
His family has endeavoured to keep details of his condition private since then. Soon after the accident one journalist was accused of attempting to gain access to the former driver by impersonating a priest.
The Schumacher family received compensation last year after a German magazine published what it claimed to be an “interview” with the driver, which appeared to have been generated using artificial intelligence. Funke-Mediengruppe, publishers of Die Aktuell, gave the family £170,000 (€200,000).
One of the few official comments made by the family on Schumacher in recent years appeared in a 2021 documentary. In the programme his wife Corinna said: “Everybody misses Michael, but Michael is here. Different, but he’s here, and that gives us strength, I find.”
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El Pollo Loco
13th February 2025, 0:29
It’s sad how much scum there is in the world. I guess they’ve got great role models in men like Musk, Thiel and Mr. Gulf of America.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th February 2025, 7:13
Good these guys were captured and brought to court. I can see why the family would be pushing for harsher sentencing.
Chris Horton
13th February 2025, 9:02
Disgusting people. So glad they’ve been brought to justice and hopefully their sentences are increased.
Bob
13th February 2025, 9:47
It’s discusting, but maybe it’s also a signal.
Give some info to Schumy’s fans. I feel sorry for them, it must be devastating not to know anything about him. All this secrecy and the speculation that comes with it, just makes things worse.
MichaelN
13th February 2025, 11:14
Mick made it clear he was unable to talk with Michael about his foray into F1, saying “I think dad and me, we would understand each other now in a different way now, simply because we speak a similar language, the language of motorsport… I would give up everything just for that.”
So I think everyone knows what is up. The only question is why. Why do this? Is been eleven years.
Leftie (@leftie)
14th February 2025, 3:45
Every real fan knows well that Michael would have preferred to keep such things private.
El Pollo Loco
14th February 2025, 6:12
There’s a difference between privacy and not giving a single update for 10 years. Just say “Michael is conscious but uncommunicative. If anything changes, we will let his fans know.” End of story.