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.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS