blackmail

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Pols Pushed U. of Illinois Into Taking Students

'Clout list' just amounts to 'blackmail:' critics

(Newser) - Prominent state lawmakers have been pressuring administrators at the University of Illinois to accept favored applicants or risk facing their wrath, the Chicago Tribune reports. Analyzing 1,800 documents, the paper found that subpar applicants on a “clout list” gained admission over the objections of admissions officers after school...

Stolen RAF Files on Drug Use, Sex Spark Blackmail Fears

Data bares UK officers' foibles

(Newser) - Top British military officials are at risk of blackmail after three Royal Air Force hard drives containing revealing vetting details were stolen, the Daily Mail reports. Files on the drives told of “criminal investigations, drug abuse, use of prostitutes, and extra-marital affairs,” said a Ministry of Defense memo....

'Swiss Gigolo' Gets 6 Years in Blackmail Schemes

(Newser) - Helg Sgarbi, the man European media nicknamed “the Swiss Gigolo,” was sentenced to 6 years in prison today after pleading guilty in German court to seducing and conning the BMW heiress who is Germany's richest woman, along with several others. Sgarbi apologized to his victims, none of whom...

Gigolo Who Scammed German Women Goes on Trial

Swiss seducer accused of blackmail

(Newser) - A smooth-talking Swiss man accused of bilking Germany's richest woman out of millions will go on trial next week, Der Spiegel reports. Prosecutors say Helg Sgarbi seduced billionaire BMW heiress Susanne Klatten, persuaded her to give him $8 million, and then threatened to send sex tapes of the two of...

Teen Bullied Peers for Sex via Facebook: Cops

Wis. native posed as girl, then blackmailed male students

(Newser) - A Wisconsin teen has been arrested for allegedly using Facebook to sexually blackmail male students at his former high school. Anthony Stancl, 18, solicited naked photos of at least 31 boys by pretending to be female. He then forced at least seven, all underage, to perform sexual favors to keep...

UK Judges Keep Gitmo Secret After US 'Threat'

Government tells courts to withhold evidence in torture case

(Newser) - Binyam Mohamed, a British detainee at Guantanamo Bay, alleges that he has been tortured, and his lawyers petitioned a high court in London to release a document detailing his treatment. But yesterday two judges declined—after the British government informed them that the US might stop sharing intelligence with the...

Paramedic, Lawmaker Busted in Travolta Extortion Plot

Men accused of trying to blackmail star for $20M over son's death

(Newser) - Bahamian police have an island politician and an ambulance driver in custody for allegedly trying to extort $20 million from John Travolta over his son's death, People reports. The country's former minister of tourism, a family friend of the Travoltas, was released after questioning.The ambulance driver has told tabloids...

Man Tried to Blackmail Giants Coach: Feds

Suspect targeted Coughlin in alleged bid to frame ex-co-workers

(Newser) - A Philadelphia man faces federal extortion charges and 2 years in prison after confessing to attempting to blackmail Giants coach Tom Coughlin, the New York Daily News reports. The coach received letters purportedly from two women 2 weeks ago and notified the NFL, which passed along the evidence to the...

Lowe Suing Ex-Nanny Over Extortion Plot

Says ex-employee demanded $1.5M to keep quiet about actor hitting on her

(Newser) - Rob Lowe took to the web and courts yesterday to defend himself against a $1.5 million blackmail scheme by a former employee who claims he repeatedly hit on her. The actor, whose career was derailed by a sex scandal in the '80s, went public on the ex-nanny's charge and...

Scotland Yard Busts Royal Sex Tape Blackmailers

Pair threatened to reveal video of mystery royal

(Newser) - Two men have been arrested for attempted blackmail of a member of the British royal family who was threatened with exposure of a videotape allegedly showing a sex act, according to Scotland Yard officials. Authorities would not reveal the identity of the target, who was told to pay $100,000...

Garden State Beauty Queen Claims Blackmail

Miss New Jersey says private photos came from Facebook page

(Newser) - The reigning Miss New Jersey says an uncongenial blackmailer is trying to muscle her out of her tiara with untoward photos, the Star Ledger reports. Amy Polumbo, 22, received as many as 12 pictures in the mail last month with a letter demanding she surrender her title to the runner-up....

Police Arrest Two in Case of Missing Maddy

Held in alleged plot to claim reward money

(Newser) - Police in Spain have arrested two people in an extortion plot connected to the disappearance of British tot Madeleine McCann. The pair, one of them an Italian man wanted in France for child abuse, were arrested near Gibraltar after trying to blackmail the McCann family, the Guardian reports. The four-year-old...

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