• Germany edition
Crawford with her husband Rande Gerber. Photo: DPA

German man charged in Cindy Crawford blackmail plot

Published: 13 Nov 09 10:02 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091113-23251.html

A German man has tried to blackmail former supermodel Cindy Crawford out of €67,000 with a picture of Crawford’s 7-year-old daughter gagged and bound to a chair, US media reported on Friday.

Celebrity gossip website TMZ reported that Edis Kayalar, the 26-year-old friend of the former nanny for Crawford's daughter, threatened to release the picture to the media unless he was paid $100,000.

The picture was taken during a game of “cops and robbers” without the knowledge of Crawford, 43, her agent said in a statement.

Documents filed in a federal court state that the nanny took the pictures as a “prank” and that Kayalar, a male model, then stole them from her.

Crawford's husband Rande Gerber paid Kayalar $1,000 (€670) for what he believed was the original photo, the documents stated. But Kayalar contacted him several days later demanding more money, at which point the couple went to the police, who passed the case on to the FBI.

Kayalar was deported from the United States to Germany in September for immigration violation, the media reports stated. People magazine reported he was now in Stuttgart.

On November 1, Kayalar then contacted the couple again, demanding $100,000 and claiming he “had no choice now but to extort the victims for money because they had gotten him deported."

Kayalar now faces up to two years’ jail, though the nanny, who was not named, had not been charged, People magazine reported.

The Local (news@thelocal.de)

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16:00 November 13, 2009 by Psypher
There are a few anomalies here...

If he has been deported and all the charges are based on American (FBI & local LEO) investigations, who exactly is prosecuting him? Germany? (doubtful). The US? Is he gonna be extradited?

This should be interesting...
01:21 November 14, 2009 by Vargaz
Extortion is a crime in both countries. Regardless of where he is prosecuted - and he should be as a dangerous predator - fair is fair, why not fine him $100,000, strap HIM onto a chair for two years, and throw him in prison? If you do the crime, then do the time without whining like the miserable house bitch he's gonna be there.
12:15 November 15, 2009 by Psypher
you're delusional if you think this guy is ever gonna see the inside of a jail cell....
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