After the attempted blackmail of the ex-racing driver’s family, three men were in custody. One of them has now been allowed to leave prison.
One of three suspects in the attempted blackmail of the family of former Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher is free again. The reason is a new investigation status, said senior public prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert today to the German Press Agency. The 30-year-old was released from custody after paying bail of 10,000 euros. The man also had to hand over his passport. “We are only accusing him of aiding and abetting, he is probably not the initiator of the crime,” said Baumert.
The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported on the release.
Last week, the Wuppertal public prosecutor’s office informed the public that the police had arrested a suspected mastermind of the attempted extortion. He is a 52-year-old who worked as a security contractor for the Schumacher family. The man was arrested on Thursday in Wülfrath near Wuppertal as the new main suspect.
Father and son arrested in Hesse
The investigators had previously arrested two suspected blackmailers of the family. They are said to have demanded 15 million euros – otherwise they would publish the data on the darknet. They sent some files to the family as proof.
The two are a 53-year-old man with 19 previous convictions and his 30-year-old son. Both were arrested on June 19 in a supermarket parking lot in Gross-Gerau, Hesse. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the son was now allowed to leave custody.
Source: Stern
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