A father and son have been arrested for allegedly trying to blackmail the family of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher. German authorities said the two men were arrested last month after they claimed to be in possession of confidential files that the Schumacher family did not want to make public. The suspects, aged 53 and 30, threatened to post the files on the darknet unless they were paid several million euros. Some of these files were sent to the family as proof of their possession. The contents of these files are not revealed.
The suspects, from the German city of Wuppertal, were tracked down and arrested in a supermarket parking lot in the central city of Gross-Gerau. In accordance with German privacy laws, their identities have not been disclosed. However, it is known that they were already on probation for a separate case. If found guilty, they could face a fine or up to five years in prison.
Details about Schumacher's health have been closely watched by his family since his near-fatal skiing accident in December 2013. The seven-time F1 champion suffered a brain injury when he fell and hit his head against a rock while skiing in the French Alps at Meribel. . Since leaving hospital in September 2014, Schumacher has been cared for privately at his family home in Switzerland. The 55-year-old, who retired from F1 in 2012 after winning 91 races and seven titles, has not made a public appearance since his accident.
It's not the first time the Schumacher family has had to defend their privacy. They previously won a case against a publisher who had falsely claimed to have conducted an AI-generated interview with Schumacher, the first since his accident.
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