“Full House” star John Stamos was blackmailed by two young Michigan men. They threatened to release scandalous photos of the star unless he paid them $700,000. Stamos teamed up with the FBI. An agent posing as a friend of Stamos made the money drop and the pair was arrested.
Source: Eonline.com
A former employee of Oprah Winfrey tried to extort money from the media mogul. Keifer Bonvillain threatened to write a book based on tape recordings from behind-the-scenes moments on the Oprah show unless she paid him $1.5 million. Bonvillain was arrested in a sting operation but ended up publishing his book anyway.
Source: Nydailynews.com
Photographer John Rutter threatened to release topless photos of Cameron Diaz unless she paid him $3.3 million. The photos were shot when Diaz was 21 and working as a model before she became famous. Rutter allegedly forged Diaz’s signature to release the photos. He was arrested and faces several years in prison related to grand theft and extortion.
Source: Cnn.com
A woman hoped to add to the already enormous “Cosby Show” brood when she threatened to tell the world she was Bill Cosby’s illegitimate daughter if he didn’t pay her $40,000. Cosby had in fact had an affair with the girl’s mother years earlier, but the mother and real father came forward saying that she was not Cosby’s daughter. The woman spent several years in prison for extortion.
Source: People.com
“Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis came home one night to find a masked man waiting for him with a gun. The man, later identified as Darnell Riley, forced Francis at gunpoint to make a sex tape and threatened to release it to the public if Francis did not pay him $500,000. Riley is the same person who blackmailed Paris Hilton over her sex tape, and Hilton helped police catch him. Riley spent eight years in prison.
Source: Jezebel.com
Computer technician Marc Lewis Gittleman got his hands on 7,000 shots from Cruise and Holmes’ wedding and brought them to David Hans Schmidt, well known in the porn-peddling industry. Schmidt threatened to release the photos to the public unless he was paid a hefty fee. Schmidt was arrested, but committed suicide before his court appearance.
Source: Theguardian.com
Seagal’s former business partner and alleged mob-affiliate Julius Nasso got Seagal involved in some nasty business when Seagal decided he no longer wanted to make action films. Nasso set up a meeting between Seagal and other members of the mob. They allegedly threatened Seagal’s life if he didn’t continue to make action movies, but also give large portions of the earnings to the mob.
Source: Cbsnews.com
Over the anniversary weekend of John Lennon’s death, Ono received a call from an old friend — her former driver, Koral Karson. But Karson was calling to threaten the release of embarrassing photos and video of Ono, unless she paid him $2 million. Karson was arrested and charged with attempted grand larceny. Karson said that the photos would have somehow proven Ono sexually assaulted him.
Source: Tmz.com
A company released a sex tape featuring Kiss front man Gene Simmons. Simmons said that this company had tried several times to extort money from him in exchange for not releasing the tape before he was able to take legal action.
Source: Digitalspy.co.uk
In 2008, nude photos of Adrienne Bailon leaked onto the Internet. Bailon’s laptop had been stolen, but the thief returned it in exchange for $1,000. Bailon noticed however that some racy pictures she’d had saved on it were missing. Perhaps that explains the tiny fee the thief demanded.
Source: Latina.com
