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Reports in the German media claim a man identified only as Markus F stole two hard drives filled with medical data pertaining to the health of Michael Schumacher.
The seven-time world champion fell while skiing in December 2013 and was placed in an induced coma.
Since then, he’s remained out of the public eye with his family, led by wife Corinna, aggressively defending his privacy.
It’s claimed Markus F, who’d worked with the family as a security guard for five years, collaborated with another man, Yilmaz T, after allegedly acquiring the hard drives containing 1500 files pertaining to Schumacher’s well-being, including photos, videos, medication lists, and more.
On June 3, Yilmaz T allegedly contacted Schumacher’s office revealing he possessed the information and threatened to publish it on the dark web.
Two days later, Yilmaz T received the data at which point he was given an email address to verify the veracity of the files he possessed.
An anonymous email address was created to send the files which were received by Schumacher’s office that afternoon. They were verified as genuine.
On June 17, Yilmaz contacted the Schumacher office again demanding £12 million in exchange for the data.
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.
After the Schumacher family engaged the Swiss authorities, who worked in conjunction with the German police, Markus F was arrested at his home in Wulfrath. Yilmaz T and his son were also detained.
It’s not the first time the Schumacher family has come under fire in the wake of its patriarch’s misadventure more than a decade ago.
In 2016, Corinna received emails threatening her children, Mick and Gina-Maria, by a painter who was sentenced to a year and nine months in jail as a result.
Earlier this year, a German magazine was ordered to pay $325,000 in compensation to the Schumacher family after publishing an AI-generated ‘interview’ with the 91-time F1 race winner.
Now 55, Schumacher’s condition remains a closely guarded secret.
