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One of the two men who stole some of Tom Cruise’s wedding pictures a
while ago and asked for $1 million not to publish them, pleaded guilty
to trying to extort money from the actor.
David Hans Schmidt, 47, known for trying to blackmail celebrities over
compromising video or photographic material of them, pleaded guilty on
one count of sending communications with the purpose to extort. His
plea was filed by his lawyer, Nancy Kardon, on August 24. The Arizona
man, who has been dubbed the "Sultan of Sleaze," faces up to two years
behind bars and a $250,000 fine. He is free on a $100,000 bail and it
is unknown if he will actually turn up in a Los Angeles court to enter
his plea personally.
According to court papers, Schmidt met with Cruise's representatives
last June and told them, "It would not look good for anyone if the
photographs became public."
In the meantime, another plea agreement was filed under seal on the
same day as Schmidt’s, belonging to Marc Lewis Gittleman, a data
recovery expert, who stole the so called "compromising" pictures from
the computer hard drive of the wedding’s official photographer. He made
copies of the photographs and contacted Schmidt after reading about his
business online.
The 33-year-old was charged with conspiracy to commit extortion and faces up to five years in prison.
The two were arrested by the FBI in late July after Schmidt approached
the actor’s representatives trying to sell them "thousands of pictures"
from Tom Cruises Italian wedding to actress Katie Holmes for "seven
figures," meaning at least one million dollars.
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