Michael Schumacher’s wife Corinna has sought to appeal the ‘far too lenient’ trial verdict over the blackmail plot to leak her superstar husband health secrets in a damning statement released on Monday.
MailOnline revealed exclusively last year details of the extortion bid on the seven-times Formula One champion who has not been seen in public since a horrific ski accident in 2013.
Three men including Schumacher’s former bodyguard Markus Fritsche, 53, were on trial after hard drives containing confidential pictures, videos and medical records were stolen from a computer.
Nightclub bouncer Yilmaz Tozturkan, also 53, and his IT expert son Daniel Lins, 30, denied blackmail and insisted they were offering the Schumacher family a ‘business deal’.
The trial has heard more than 1,500 images, videos and confidential medical records were downloaded from a computer and given to Fritsche who passed them to Tozturkan who said he would ‘upload them on to the dark web’ unless money was paid.
Prosecutors in the German city of Wuppertal called for Tozturkan who is currently in jail on an unrelated crime to be given three years, while the Schumacher family had been asking for five years for what they saw as his ‘ultimate betrayal’.
Corinna Schumacher shared an incendiary statement stressing her interest in appealing the verdict of the blackmail trial aimed at leaking her husband’s medical records
Michael Schumacher’s former bodyguard Markus Fritsche (left) and Yilmaz Tozturkan (right) were among those convicted
The seven-time Formula One champion has not been seen in public since his horrific skiing accident in 2013 (pictured in 2003)
His son, Lins, was given a six-months suspended sentence, while Fritsche received two years, also suspended.
But Corinna and the Schumacher family have hit out at the sentences given, highlighting Fritsche’s in particular as not severe enough – in fear of copycat crimes being committed in the future.
‘We have appealed against what we consider to be the far too lenient sentence for Mr F,’ Monday’s statement read.
‘In my opinion, he was the mastermind behind this. What still shocks me most is the massive breach of trust. He should receive a punishment that deters any potential copycats.’
The trial, which began in December of last year, saw Tozturkan admit his guilt and regret for his role in the blackmail plot, with the accused telling the court it was a ‘very, very disgusting thing’ that he had done.
‘I realised that on the second day in prison. I will answer for it,’ he said. ‘I am very sorry and ashamed. I will take responsibility for what I have done.’
In a continuation of Corinna’s ultra-protective measures to protect the privacy of his stricken husband, the family sought to keep details about Schumacher’s condition private throughout the trial.
Little is known about Schumacher’s health over 11 years after the catastrophic accident the star suffered while skiing in the French Alps with his racing driver son Mick, with close friends sworn to the utmost secrecy over their visits to the family’s £50million home in Gland, Switzerland.
Schumacher is believed to be receiving medical treatment at his £50m mansion in Gland
Details of Schumacher’s health conditions have been kept strictly private for over 12 years
Corinna has played a key role in drawing a veil of secrecy over her husband’s health in the years since the accident
Schumacher’s privacy has seen many people try and cash in on the information vacuum.
An executive at the helicopter air rescue company that transferred him from a French hospital to Switzerland six months after the crash allegedly tried to steal his medical records and sell them to several European media outlets for €50,000 (£40,000).
French prosecutors tracked the IP address of the computer used in the theft to Rega, the main operator of air ambulances in Switzerland. At the time, the company acknowledged it had received a medical file to assist in Schumacher’s move, but strenuously denied being involved in the theft.
Prosecutors from France and Switzerland managed to trace the alleged theft back to the air rescue executive, who was promptly arrested and placed in a prison cell in Zurich.
But the next morning, hours before he was scheduled to go before court, officers discovered that the man had hanged himself in his cell.
Authorities did not release the man’s name, age, or nationality. But Zurich’s prosecutor’s office said at the time that he had acted alone, and that there were no indications that he was mentally unstable or suicidal.
‘We are at a loss for words and deeply shocked,’ Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm said at the time, but added that any publication of the ‘clearly stolen’ medical file would result in prosecution, which meant the notes never saw the light of day.
One year later, the family narrowly avoided another catastrophic leak when an unnamed ‘friend’ granted access to Schumacher’s home managed to snap a picture and smuggle it out.
Corinna fears that the leniency of the sentence could lead to copycat crimes and further invasions of privacy
One of Schumacher’s closest friends Jean Todt regularly visits the star – but keeps details closely under wraps
The image was allegedly being bandied about to European media groups with a price tag of one million euros.
But German prosecutors swiftly intervened, declaring the photograph and its attempted sale constituted a ‘violation of his personal range of life’ and a breach of privacy.
The image never surfaced, and to this day there have never been any photos of Schumacher taken after the accident.
One of Schumacher’s closest friends – and his former racing manager with Ferrari – Jean Todt is one of only a handful who maintain regular contact with the former driver, and in February shared a poignant update on Schumacher’s condition.
‘The family has decided not to answer the question (on his condition),’ Todt told La Repubblica. ‘A choice that I respect.
‘I see him regularly and with affection, him and his family. Our bond goes beyond the past work. It is part of my life, which today is very far from Formula 1.’
But reports last year suggested that Schumacher had been seen in public, at the wedding of his daughter Gina.
Gina tied the knot with her boyfriend Iain Bethke at the family’s luxury villa in Majorca, and it was claimed that Schumacher was there to witness the ceremony.
Guests were reportedly forced to hand over their phones to prevent photos being leaked of the stricken ex-racing driver.
However, his close friend Johnny Herbert, who raced in Formula One between 1989 and 2000, later rubbished the reports and described them as ‘fake news’.
Herbert told Flashscore in November: ‘It will always be a closed shop. The most recent rumour was he attended his daughter’s wedding. Unfortunately, from what I understand that was all AI fake news and no truth in it.’