11 July 2024 , 20:59
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A security guard who worked for Michael Schumacher’s family for five years is accused of stealing 1,500 medical files from them.
This includes two hard drives worth of private information from the home in Germany which the family say they do not want made public.
Police arrested the suspect known only as Markus F, 52, under German law last Thursday.
According to the German newspaper BILD, there are 1,000 images on the second hard drive and 500 on the first.
It is thought the photos, medication lists, videos and contents of his file, were taken when he left in early 2021.
Markus F is accused of carrying out the crime to sell the stolen medical data for £12million because he was in debt.
He used to work in Egypt but returned to Germany where he met other security guards including a man called Yilmaz T, 53, who is co-accussed.
Yilmaz T is alleged to have helped Markus F carry out the extortion against Schumacher’s family.
Yilmaz T is the man who is co-accused
But Markus F is said to have only promised Yilmaz T a small commission in the low single-digit millions range to help him.
Yilmaz T has also been arrested alongside his son Daniel L, 30.
Daniel L has been released on conditional bail after his older brother Julian posted his £8,431 bail.
In relation to the bail, senior public prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert said: ‘After the advanced investigations, we currently assume that the accused son may have acted more as an accomplice.’
Employees of Michael’s wife Corinna were also allegedly approached by the men who said they had the files.
They said they wanted millions from the family in exchange for keeping the medical information private.
Schumacher has not been seen for more than 10 years following his ski crash which left him in a medically induced coma.
He was taken to hospital after he hit his head against a rock at the French resort of Meribel.