The ruling comes over a plot to blackmail the Schumacher family for AUD $25 million (€15 million) to prevent confidential medical records from being published on the dark web.

Three people have been sentenced over the attempt, with former nightclub bouncer Yilmaz Tozturkan receiving three years behind bars.

Daniel Lins received a six-month suspended sentence, and his father, Markus Fritsche, who formerly worked on the Schumacher family’s security detail, received a two-year suspended sentence.

Fritsche stole 1500 images and 200 videos from Schumacher before engaging Lins and Tozturkan in an effort to blackmail the family.

The data was removed on a USB stick before contact was made with the family on June 3, followed by an email proving the veracity of the stolen material.

A second email followed on June 11, at which point ransom demands were made.

A payment was to be made in two instalments: half for the delivery of one hard drive and the second half three days later, at which point the second hard drive would be handed over.

The matter was escalated to Swiss authorities, which worked with the German police, and a trio of arrests were made a week later.

Details surrounding Michael Schumacher’s health remain a tightly guarded secret.

The seven-time world champion sustained a head injury in a skiing accident in December 2013.

He has not been seen in public since and remains ensconced in his family home in Switzerland, where his wife, Corinne, oversees care for the 56-year-old.

It’s not the first time the family has been the target of nefarious intent.

In 2017, a 25-year-old man threatened to harm Mick Schumacher and his sister, Gina-Maria, should the family not pay AUD $1.5 million (€900,000), for which he was handed a 21-month sentence.

Last year, the publisher of German magazine Die Aktuell was fined AUD $330,000 (€200,000) for publishing an AI-generated interview with Schumacher.