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Two men charged in plot to blackmail Cruise with photos

Two men were charged with plotting to extort more than US$1 million from Tom Cruise for the actor's stolen wedding photographs, federal authorities announced.

David Hans Schmidt, known for brokering deals involving compromising celebrity photos and videos, was charged with sending communications for purposes of extortion, according to a criminal complaint.

Marc Lewis Gittleman, who authorities say helped recover photos from a computer hard drive, was charged with conspiracy to commit extortion.

Federal authorities arrested Schmidt, 47, on Tuesday and Gittleman, 33, on Thursday night, officials said on Friday.

It was not immediately clear whether Schmidt or Gittleman had retained attorneys. Schmidt, who lives in Phoenix, Arizona, was released on US$100,000 bail. If convicted, Schmidt faces up to two years in prison and Gittleman up to five years.

A message left with Cruise's publicist was not immediately returned.

The plot began after Gittleman obtained photos of the actor's Italian wedding last year to actress Katie Holmes from the official photographer, a criminal complaint said.

HARD DRIVE

The photographer, identified as Joshua Bobrove, had reportedly taken a damaged computer hard drive containing the wedding photos to Gittleman to employ his services as a data recovery expert.

Gittleman then made copies of photos on the drive and kept them for himself, authorities said. He contacted Schmidt after finding a Web site touting his abilities to broker celebrity photos.

In the last two months, Schmidt had repeated contact with Cruise representatives and threatened to shop the photos around if he did not receive between US$1.25 million and US$1.35 million, officials said. He claimed there were about 7,600 wedding photos, and at one point e-mailed the actor's representatives 13 images as proof he had them.

`BLACK MARKET'

"He said that the client would turn to the black market and find a buyer for the photos," said Peter Brust, a special agent in charge in the FBI's Los Angeles office.

Schmidt was arrested after an undercover FBI agent attended a meeting in West Hollywood between Schmidt and Cruise's representatives. Federal agents were led to Gittleman by a license plate number they discovered on a slip of paper in Schmidt's car.

PREVIOUS SCHEMES

Schmidt has also tried to auction off Paris Hilton's diaries, along with photos of her in various stages of undress and other personal items that had been locked away in a Los Angeles-area storage locker until a few months ago.

Over the years, Schmidt has claimed to have brokered deals to sell a sex video of Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on Saved by the Bell and a video of ice skater Tonya Harding's wedding night, according to published reports. He also claimed to have obtained topless shots of rescued US Army POW Jessica Lynch.
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