Munich: A man dubbed "the Swiss gigolo" by the German media has pleaded guilty to threatening to blackmail Germany's richest woman by releasing secretly recorded videotapes of their trysts unless the married heiress gave him millions of euros (dollars) to keep quiet.
Helg Sgarbi (S'Gar-bee) admitted to meeting BMW heiress Susanne Klatten, 46, at a spa near Innsbruck, Austria, in July 2007 and starting an affair. Using what prosecutors called a well-practiced scam, he told her that he was involved in a car accident in the United States that left a girl paraplegic, and convinced Klatten to give him €7 million ($9 million) in cash to pay for her treatment.
Sgarbi, 44, then demanded Klatten leave her family and invest €290 million ($367 million) in a trust for him, according to the indictment he confessed to Monday. When she refused, he threatened to release secretly filmed videos of their trysts.
Sgarbi demanded €49 million ($62 million) not to tell her family, the heads of her companies and the media. He lowered the demand to €14 million ($17.72 million) but Klatten instead went to the police in January 2007. Sgarbi was arrested shortly in Austria's Tyrolean Alps and has been held in detention since.
Prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus-Koch praised Klatten for her bravery in stepping forward.
"The only victim who came to us and gave a witness statement is Mrs. Klatten. We had to find the others, with great difficulty," Steinkraus-Koch said.
Klatten, who is married with three children, is the daughter of the late BMW magnate Herbert Quandt and holds a 46 percent stake in the company along with her mother and brother. She also owns a 88.3 percent share of chemical company Altana.
Forbes magazine listed her as the 68th richest person in the world last year, with a personal fortune of around $9.6 billion (€7.58 billion). The story has attracted vast media attention in Germany, where the Quandt family is regarded as quasi-royalty.
Sgarbi was charged with extortion and fraud for swindling Klatten of the €7 million and taking €2.4 million ($3 million) from three other women in similar scams. Prosecutors did not release the names of the three other victims.
"I deeply regret what has happened and apologize to the aggrieved ladies in this public hearing," Sgarbi told the Munich court. Sgarbi's lawyer, Egon Gries, said his client would not answer any questions about where the money had gone or whether anyone had helped him.
Sgarbi faces up to 10 years in prison.
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