The family of Michael Schumacher today launched an appeal against the sentence for one of the defendants convicted in a blackmail plot, saying the ruling was “far too lenient”.
The seven-time Formula One champion has not been seen in public since a 2013 skiing accident which left him with aserious brain injury.
On February 12, a German court found a 53-year-old man and his son guilty of trying to extort €15 million ($27.4 million) from the Schumacher family by threatening to publish pictures and videos of Michael.
The father and son, named only as 53-year-old Yilmaz T., was jailed for three years. His 30-year-old son Daniel L, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence.
A security guard, identified as Markus F, was found guilty of “aiding and abetting” the plot and received a two-year suspended sentence.
In a statement issued today, Schumacher’s wife, Corinna, said “we have appealed against what we consider to be a far too lenient sentence”, while calling the security guard “the mastermind behind this matter”.
“What still shocks me most is the massive breach of trust. He should receive a punishment for this that deters others from potentially doing the same.”
In 2024, the family were successful in a legal action against German celebrity magazine Die Aktuelle, which had published an “interview” with the motorsports legend generated by artificial intelligence.
