Charlie Sheen filed a lawsuit against Capri Anderson (Christina Walsh), alleging that she tried to extort $1 million from him. The suit claims that Capri threatened “to embarrass him and attempt to damage his career by going to the media with her false tale.” The suit goes on to state that, “At no time did Sheen assault, batter or threaten Walsh.” Charlie also alleges that Capri initially told the NYPD Sheen acted “like a total gentleman.”

Oksana Claims She did not Know Secret Recordings of Mel Gibson Were Worth Money

Oksana is now claiming that she did NOT know, in any way, shape and form, that her secret recordings of Mel Gibson would be worth any money. In an interview with People magazine, the reporter asked, “Did you intend to extort him or use the tapes against him?” Oksana replied, “That never crossed my mind. I didn’t know that people can do such things.” TMZ’s report that Oksana orchestrated a $15 million deal in return for keeping the tapes secret. The interview will come out Friday.

Cindy Crawford Extortionist Caught

A German man wanted for trying to extort $100,000 from former supermodel Cindy Crawford over a photo of her daughter has surrendered to authorities, Bild newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Edis Kayalar, 26, gave himself up to police in the southwestern town of Nuertingen on Monday evening. Police then searched his apartment in the nearby town of Wendlingen.

Kayalar had just returned from a trip to Turkey, Bild said.

He was charged in federal court in Los Angeles last week with trying to extort money from Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber over a photo of their daughter gagged and bound to a chair.

The photo apparently was snapped by the then 7-year-old girl’s nanny as a private joke when she was playing “cops and robbers” with the girl.

It fell into the hands of Kayalar, who was the nanny’s friend, according to court documents.

Kayalar contacted Crawford, 43, last summer and sought to use the photo to get money from the couple, saying tabloids would pay a lot, the court papers said.

Crawford and Gerber contacted authorities, prompting Los Angeles police to launch a criminal probe.

Kayalar was arrested in September and deported to Germany for being in the United States illegally. But earlier this month he again phoned Crawford and Gerber and demanded $100,000, which led to him being charged with extortion.

Kayalar faces up to two years in prison if returned to the United States and convicted.

REUTERS

Cindy Crawford, Husband Targeted in Extortion Plot

Cindy Crawford and her entrepreneur husband Rande Gerber were the victims of a $100,000 extortion scheme involving a photograph of their 7-year-old daughter purportedly taken by the couple’s former nanny, according to court papers filed Thursday by the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office.

The photo shows the child “in revealing clothing, bound to a chair and gagged,” say the documents filed in U.S. District Court, reports Los Angeles TV station KTLA.

According to an affidavit in the case, the child informed the Gerbers that the nanny took the photo as part of a “cops and robbers” game. Annett Wolf, a rep for the former supermodel, issued a statement saying the photo was taken without Crawford’s knowledge.

An acquaintance of the nanny reportedly threatened to sell the photo. He has been identified as Edis Kayalar, 26, a recent deportee to Germany now believed to be in Stuttgart, according to officials. Authorities say that even after his deportation Kayalar continued to demand $100,000 – or he would release the photo to the media.

He has been charged with one count of extortion. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence of up to two years. The nanny, who has not been named, has not been charged.

Wolf’s statement also said, “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, 43, and Gerber, 47, have been married since 1998. Besides their daughter, who is now 8, they also have a son, 10.

PEOPLE

A female former staff writer for David Letterman said the comedian’s late-night operation was a hostile, sexually charged, male-dominated bastion where women didn’t climb the ladder unless they climbed into bed.

Nearly 20 years before Letterman admitted he slept with female staffers, he ran an enterprise rife with rumors about his affairs with subordinates, and looked the other way when other high-level men were sleeping with the staff, writes in Vanity Fair.

Scovell said that in 1990 she landed what she thought was her dream job, a writing gig on Letterman’s show, then on NBC.

But after only a few months, she quit. “I’d seen enough to know that I was not going to thrive professionally in that workplace,” she recalled. “And although there were various reasons for that, sexual politics did play a major part.”

A spokesman for Letterman, who this month reported an extortion attempt over recent affairs with staffers, had no immediate comment on the article.

NY POST

Rumor cause Travolta Mistrial

A Bahamian politician has said he was repeating a rumour when he prematurely announced the accused had been cleared in the John Travolta extortion case.

Picewell Forbes’ declaration at a party conference - covered by live TV - came before the jury finished deliberations, causing the judge to order a retrial.

Mr Forbes’ lawyer said he had not verified the information beforehand.

Pleasant Bridgewater and Tarino Lightbourne are accused of trying to extort $25m (£15m) from the actor.

Mr Forbes told the conference that Ms Bridgewater, a former senator and a member of Mr Forbes’ Progressive Liberal (PLP) party, had been acquitted.

His lawyer said that the information had been circulating around the party convention.

Mr Forbes is expected to appear before Judge Anita Allen on Friday, to explain his actions and why he should not be held in contempt of court.

The judge, who has yet to set a date for the retrial, expressed concerns that there may have been a direct leak from the jury room - prompting her declaration of mistrial.

Representatives of the PLP later issued an apology for Mr Forbes’ announcement, saying it was “incorrect”.

A spokesman for Travolta said he was “disappointed” in the mistrial outcome.

BBC

Letterman: More Details about a Book

A television producer charged with attempting to extort $2 million from U.S. talk-show host David Letterman threatened to write a book about the TV star’s affairs with employees, court documents showed on Thursday.

A Connecticut judge ordered the release of law enforcement affidavits and a list of evidence taken from the home of Joe Halderman, a producer for CBS news show “48 Hours” who is charged with attempted grand larceny in the case.

According to one affidavit, Halderman told Letterman’s lawyers in a meeting at a Manhattan hotel that he planned to “write the book and publicize the information” if he was not paid. He was arrested later after depositing a phony $2 million check into his bank account.Photographs, a letter, video and audio tapes, a computer hard drive and other items were removed from Halderman’s Norwalk, Connecticut home, according to court documents.

Read the full article ABC News

Alleged Travolta Extortionists Haggled on Video

Secret police videos have captured the alleged extortionists in the John Travolta case in deep conflict … with one defendant accusing the other of trying to settle way too cheap — this according to law enforcement sources.

As we first reported yesterday, authorities have at least two videos of paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and attorney Pleasant Bridgewater demanding millions of dollars from John Travolta’s lawyers, in return for not making a document public.

Our sources say Bridgewater is caught on tape demanding many millions of dollars, but another video shows Lightbourne outraged that Bridgewater demanded what he considered such a paltry sum. His demand was exponentially higher than hers, law enforcement sources tell TMZ.

We’re told the videos show them haggling over money — and although it’s been reported the pair allegedly demanded $25 million, we’re told they finally agreed to $15 mil.

We’re also told lawyers for Bridgewater and Lightbourne will make a motion today to suppress the videos, on grounds they were illegally recorded.

And there’s a sticky problem — we’re told one of the key Bahamian cops in the video sting was seriously injured “under suspicious circumstances” and is unable to testify.

Travolta has not finished testifying. We’re told he has left the Bahamas and will return next week to complete his testimony.

TMZ

John Travolta Extortion Trial

John Travolta will be the first witness called today in the extortion trial over his son’s death. After John steps down from the stand, there will be a legal dogfight in the courtroom over what could be the smoking gun in the case.

Sources say Travolta will testify for about two hours. When he finishes, defense lawyers will mount an objection to the introduction of a secret videotape which allegedly shows the attempted extortion played out.

The video was shot by authorities in the Bahamas. It shows Travolta’s lawyers listening attentively as the alleged $25 million extortion demand is laid out on the table.

Prosecutors say former state senator Pleasant Bridgewater and paramedic Tarino Lightbourne threatened to release an essentially irrelevant document connected to Jett’s death unless Travolta anted up.

TMZ