Three men have been arrested on suspicion of trying to blackmail Germany’s richest woman with footage of her steamy encounters with a con man known as the Swiss Gigolo, prosecutors said Friday.
BMW heiress Susanne Klatten “received a letter in mid-June demanding 800,000 euros (1.1 million dollars) and a BMW vehicle, and threatening to sell an intimate video of her encounter with Swiss gigolo Helg Sgarbi to the Italian press if she refused to pay,” spokesman Thomas Steinkraus-Koch told.
Upon receiving the letter, Klatten placed an advertisement in a local newspaper saying she was prepared to pay up and giving a contact number. AFP
He said that despite the letter officers had found nothing to suggest there was any truth to the threat.
“We assume the story about the video was contrived,” he said. “At least we have found no evidence of any such video after searching their apartments and computers. There is nothing to suggest they ever were in possession of such a sex video.”
It is not the first time that she has fallen prey to blackmail attempts.
Last year, Klatten, 47 – a member of the Quandt dynasty who sits on the board of BMW and the chemicals firm Altana – went public about how her Swiss ex-lover, Helg Sgarbi, had filmed a sex tape and later demanded tens of million of euros not to reveal it.
In March this year, Sgarbi, whom the German press dubbed the “Swiss gigolo”, was jailed for six years by a Munich court after he admitted seducing and conning Klatten and three other wealthy women. Guardian.co.uk
The three suspects were nabbed in the western city of Duisburg on Wednesday after investigators, posing as people close to the 47-year-old Klatten, set up an appointment to hand over the money.
The suspects, who came from Duisburg, were between 33 and 46 years old, but prosecutors did not give further details. The Associated Press
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