Michael Schumacher’s wife Corinna has attempted to appeal a “too lenient” sentence in her trial for blackmailing him into revealing secrets about her superstar husband’s health, in a scathing statement released on Monday.
Last year, MailOnline exclusively revealed details of the blackmail attempt on the seven-time Formula One champion, who had not been seen in public since a horrific skiing accident in 2013.
Three men, including Schumacher’s former bodyguard Markus Fritsche, 53, appeared in court after hard drives containing confidential images, videos and medical records were stolen from a computer.
Nightclub bouncer Yilmaz Tozturkan, also 53, and his 30-year-old son Daniel Lins, a computer expert, denied the extortion charge and insisted they were offering the Schumacher family a “deal.”
During the trial, it emerged that more than 1,500 images, videos and confidential medical records had been downloaded from a computer and handed over to Fritsche, who then passed them on to Tozturkan, who said he would “upload them to the dark web” if he did not pay.
The Wuppertal prosecutor’s office has requested a three-year prison sentence for Tozturkan, who is currently in prison for another crime . The Schumacher family had requested five years in prison for his “ultimate betrayal.”
Corinna Schumacher has released an inflammatory statement underlining her interest in appealing the verdict in her extortion trial aimed at obtaining her husband’s medical records
But Corinna and the Schumacher family criticize the sanctions imposed. In particular, Fritsche’s verdict is not severe enough, as there are fears that copycat crimes could occur in the future.
“We have appealed what we believe to be an overly lenient sentence for Mr. F,” the statement released Monday read.
“In my opinion, he was the mastermind of this whole thing. What still shocks me the most is the egregious breach of trust. He should receive a punishment that will discourage potential imitators.”
At the trial, which began in December last year, Tozturkan confessed his guilt and regretted his role in the extortion. The defendant told the court that he had done something “very, very heinous.”
“This became clear to me on my second day in prison. ‘I will take responsibility for this,’” he said. “I am very sorry and ashamed. I will take responsibility for what I have done.”
While maintaining the strict precautions Corinna took to protect her ailing husband’s privacy , the family sought to keep the details of Schumacher’s condition secret throughout the trial.
Little is known about Schumacher’s health, 11 years after the star suffered a catastrophic accident while skiing in the French Alps with his racing driver son Mick. Close friends have vowed to keep their visits to the family’s £50 million home in Gland, Switzerland, strictly private.
Schumacher is said to be receiving medical treatment at his £50million mansion in Gland
Because of Schumacher’s privacy, many people have tried to profit from the information vacuum.
A senior executive at the helicopter rescue company that flew him from a French hospital to Switzerland six months after the crash is said to have tried to steal his medical records and sell them to several European media outlets for €50,000 (£40,000).
French prosecutors were able to trace the IP address of the computer used in the theft, which belongs to Rega, the largest operator of rescue aircraft in Switzerland. At the time, the company admitted obtaining medical records to facilitate Schumacher’s move, but vehemently denied any involvement in the theft.
The French and Swiss prosecutors managed to trace the alleged theft and trace the head of the air rescue, who was immediately arrested and locked up in a cell in the Zurich prison.
But the next morning, just hours before the court hearing, officials discovered that the man had hanged himself in his cell.
Authorities did not release the man’s name, age or nationality. However, the Zurich prosecutor’s office said at the time that the man had acted alone and that there was no evidence that he was mentally unstable or at risk of suicide.
“We are speechless and deeply shocked,” Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm said at the time, adding however that any publication of the “obviously stolen” medical records would be prosecuted, which is why the notes never saw the light of day.
A year later, the family narrowly avoided another catastrophic data breach when an unnamed “friend” who had gained access to Schumacher’s home managed to snap a photo and smuggle it out.
Corinna fears that the leniency of the sentence could lead to copycat crimes and further violations of privacy
One of Schumacher’s closest friends, Jean Todt, regularly visits the star, but keeps the details strictly secret.
The photo is believed to have been forwarded to European media groups for a fee of one million euros.
But German prosecutors quickly stepped in and said the photo and the attempted sale represented a “violation of her personal lifestyle” and an invasion of her privacy.
The photo was never published and to this day there are no photos of Schumacher taken after the accident.
Jean Todt, one of Schumacher’s closest friends and his former sporting director at Ferrari, is one of the few who maintains regular contact with the former driver and in February he provided a touching update on Schumacher’s condition .
“The family has decided not to answer the question (about his condition),” Todt told La Repubblica. “A decision I respect.”
“I see him regularly and with affection, him and his family. Our bond goes beyond our previous work. It is part of my life, which today is very far from Formula 1.”
But rumours last year suggested that Schumacher had been seen in public at his daughter Gina’s wedding.
Gina married her fiancé Iain Bethke at the family’s luxury villa in Mallorca and Schumacher was said to be in attendance at the ceremony.
Guests were reportedly forced to hand over their phones to prevent photos of the ailing former racing driver from becoming public.
However, his close friend Johnny Herbert, who drove in Formula 1 between 1989 and 2000, later dismissed the reports as “fake news”.
Herbert told Flashscore in November: “It will always be a closed shop. The last rumor was that he attended his daughter’s wedding. Unfortunately, from what I understand, it was fake news about AI and there was no truth to it.”
