http://www.popeater.com/2010/03/09/model-sentenced-to-jail-for-cindy-crawford-extortion/
Model Sentenced to Jail for Cindy Crawford Extortion
By PopEater Staff Posted Mar 9th 2010 10:04AM
Former model Edis Kayalar was convicted Tuesday in German court of
blackmailing supermodel Cindy Crawford and will spend the next two
years in jail, the AP is reporting.
The court determined that Kayalar extorted money from Crawford in 2009
by threatening to release a photo of her daughter, then 7, gagged and
bound to a chair. He received $1,000 from the model for a copy of the
image, but then turned around and asked for an additional $100,000.
The photo was reportedly taken by the couples nanny during a game of
"cops and robbers," according to an affidavit obtained by the AP. The
unnamed nanny has not been charged. According to the affidavit,
Kayalar stole the photo from the nanny and repeatedly tried to get
money from Crawford and her husband, Rande Gerber.
Kayalar initially had second thoughts and was going to return the
photo. Gerber later met with him at a bar, where Kayalar showed him a
copy of the photo and said he also took a handwritten note from the
nanny's apartment that read, "The baby sitter went crazy and tied
everyone up and they need your help! Please."
The nanny said she had taken the photo as a prank and was going to
post it and the note on the front door of the family's house,
according to the affidavit. The nanny never went through with the
joke.
Gerber eventually got the photo from Kayalar and paid him $1,000 in
cash "for his trouble," the affidavit said. But Kayalar is accused of
demanding more money while saying he had another copy of the photo.
"He believed he could have received $500,000 from the tabloids for the
photograph and that he deserved more money from them," the document
said.
Kayalar was taken into federal custody for an immigration violation in
2009. However, he called Crawford and Gerber again on Nov. 1 and
threatened to sell or release the photo to the media if his demand for
$100,000 wasn't met, the affidavit said.
According to TMZ, he is a former model for HERMAEVENTS.
Kayalar said, "[I] was not trying to destroy a little girl's life, but
the release of the photograph was not going to be something positive
for the victims' image," according to the document.
Kayalar allegedly gave Gerber a German bank account number and routing
information and said the money should be wired within three days or
the photo would be made public.
Crawford's spokeswoman Annett Wolf issued a statement saying, "Rande
Gerber and Cindy Crawford intend to pursue any and all available legal
action against anyone who aids the perpetrator in the distribution or
sale of the photograph of their daughter."
Crawford, who divorced actor Richard Gere in 1995, married Gerber in
1998. They have two children. |
