Said to be charming, attentive and with a touching air of sadness about him, a Swiss man named Helg Sgarbi evidently wended his way through European society, skillfully winning the hearts of wealthy women — and then blackmailing them for cash.
On Monday, though, his victims got the better of him. In a case that has been splashed in headlines across Europe, the man the German media has nicknamed the Swiss Gigolo pleaded guilty in a Munich court to extortion, and was sentenced to six years in prison.
In particular, Sgarbi was accused of filming a sexual encounter between himself and Susanne Klatten, the heir of BMW and the 55th richest person in the world, and using the material to try to extort €49m (£43m) from her.
Sgarbi allegedly threatened to send the compromising footage, shot in a Holiday Inn, to the board of BMW and her husband if she did not give him the money. In a letter he wrote to her: “While your risk is very high, my risks are irrelevant.”
Despite the humiliation she was forced to endure, Klatten, 46, whose reputation is that of a serious businesswoman who keeps a low profile, went straight to the police, who arrested Sgarbi at a motorway service station in 2007.
Police investigators described Sgarbi as a smooth operator who knew exactly how to win the trust of the women he seduced. He told them he was a “special Swiss representative in crisis zones”, which enabled him to flit between the women at short notice and with very little explanation.
Munich’s state prosecutor Anton Winkler said Sgarbi, who was accused of blackmailing several wealthy woman, had made a written confession which was read by his lawyer to the court.
“He confessed that he blackmailed the victims, told them untrue stories,” Winkler said.
However, Sgarbi had not revealed what had happened to the estimated $12.5 million he had taken from his victims nor where the pictures had gone.
“It is really only half a confession. We asked him about where the money is, about accomplices and videos… and he refused to say anything about that,” Winkler said.
Authorities said Klatten, who is married with three children, had an affair with Sgarbi.
Klatten, the daughter of the late BMW chief Herbert Quandt, holds a 12.5-percent stake in the German carmaker and a 51.1-percent share of chemical company Altana.
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