Crawford Extortionist Found Guilty

10 March 2010

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A German man has been sentenced to two years in prison after he was foundguilty of attempting to blackmail supermodel Cindy Crawford.

Edis Kayalar, 26, was charged with attempting to extort $100,000 from Crawford and her husband Randy Gerber after threatening to sell a controversial photo of the couple's young daughter to the media.

The image showedthe girl, who was seven years old at the time, tied to a chair and wearing revealing clothing during a game of 'cops and robbers'.

The attempt at blackmail was well-advanced until it failed

Gerber is believed to have paid Kayalar, an acquaintance of the family's former nanny, $1,000 to keep the photo under wraps but turned to officials at America's Federal Bureau of Investigation when the crook made further demands for cash.

Kayalar left the U.S. in September (09) but surrendered himself to police in Germany in November (09) after U.S. authorities appealed for international help in tracking him down.

He was convicted of attempted blackmail at a court in the town of Kirchheim unter Teck, in southern Germany, on Tuesday (09Mar10) and handed a two-year prison sentence, according to German website Thelocal.de.

Judge Joachim Spieth told the court, "The attempt at blackmail was well-advanced until it failed".

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