- Lawyers claim that celebrities, sports stars, CEOs, and other high-ranking executives are at greater risk of’sextortion attack’.
- Sexual encounters lead to threats: pay up, or I’ll ruin your career and reputation.
- One of a growing number of lawyers says that clients are afraid.
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A young Manhattan CEO stared at his phone in horror. The screen said, “I’m going after you and your business.”
It was a woman he met on Seeking Arrangements. so-called sugar-daddy site. She had told him she was legal age. Now, she claimed the contrary.
The CEO had already parted ways with $40,000 in cash and gifts, first willingly and then in response to her threats.
Now she wanted more money. Or she’d publish their intimate sexual sexts via his social media accounts and accuse he of statutory. He didn’t even recognize her real name.
According to Insider records, she texted the terrified CEO “If I can’t get you money”, “I’m going after your whole company.”
“It’s always been the same thing: Pay me, I’m going to blow you up, your marriage, your business,’” says Jeremy Saland. Saland specializes in high-end sextortion defense, a lucrative and highly secretive legal field.
Saland, a former Manhattan prosecutor, says, “It’s always been, always a crime.”
These clients don’t want to tell the police. They feel panicked at the thought of their name appearing in a lawsuit caption or headline on a gossip website.
They don’t care if they are NBA stars, Hollywood A-listers or anonymous Manhattan millionaires. All they want is for the sextortion stop quietly. They pay thousands of dollars to the lawyers who make it happen.
“To them, coming up to us is like they are handing us a ticking bomb that they don’t want anyone to know about,” stated Herman Weisberg, a private detective who has worked these cases with Saland for over a dozen years.
“They think the end is near.”
East Coast, West Coast
A growing legal practice is being created by high-end sextortions, such as the case against the Manhattan CEO. Lawyers who specialize in these cases agree that business is booming right now.
These are not genuine #MeToo cases. They are blackmails that are based on false allegations. The clients are almost exclusively men and are based largely in Los Angeles and New York. Each coast has a different pattern for target and attack.
LA lawyers say they see more A-listers — entertainment and sports stars — who are threatened with multi-million-dollar bogus lawsuits.
“These are cases where I send my investigator out, and the accusation is not real — it’s a shakedown,” typically for seven figures, says LA lawyer Shawn Holley, who sees it as a big win when she can negotiate an out-of-court settlement in the low five-figures.
Holley, a partner at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP, says that celebrities sometimes want to publically deny the false accusations. But agents and managers quickly convince them otherwise. Even if the celebrity is ultimately proven innocent, the reputational damage is too severe.
Shawn Holley representing Lindsay Lohan Los Angeles in 2013.
David McNew/Reuters
“I tell them, ‘It’s the cost of being you,’” Holley — a member of O.J. Simpson’s “Dream Team,” whose clients have included Kim Kardashian, Snoop Dogg and Lindsay Lohan — says of the 15 or more celebrity sextortion cases she quietly makes go away each year.
“There’s been a significant increase over the last 20 years, but in the last five or six years it seems to have exploded,” says Blair Berk of Tarlow & Berk, PC, another celebrity lawyer out of LA.
Berk says that “typically it’s clear there hasn’t been any wrongdoing.” “It’s a red flag when part the extortion is a threat to go to police enforcement, but they claim they have chosen not to.”
Blair Berk leaving Malibu Courthouse in Malibu after representing Mel Gibson.
Toby Canham/Getty Images
“The victim is told, ‘I’m going to file this in court next week unless you come to the bargaining table,” says John B. Harris, of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, of the typical LA celebrity shakedown.
Harris stated that it gives the well-known person “an obvious fear” of bad publicity. This is why out-of court settlements often include non-disclosure restrictions, payment schedules that are long-term, and a payment schedule that is not immediately disclosed, in order to encourage the sextortionists to keep silent.
Manhattan is different
Manhattan sextortion clientele, in contrast, are not typically from the A-list. They come from Manhattan’s vast pool the anonymously wealthy. The sextorters face their marks directly without the help of a lawyer.
Saland says that he has seen hedge fund managers, private equity partners and big law firm lawyers. He also believes Weisberg has worked on around 200 cases in the past 12 years.
Although their clients are often located in Manhattan, the sextorters come from all over.
Saland says that he has dealt with cases in which we had to track down people in the Philippines. “And we found someone in Kenya who was extorting young kids on Instagram,” he says. He added that the kid had been tricked into sending nude pictures.
These threats can be triggered by an extramarital affair, a Vegas bender, or a “date” with a sex worker through websites like Ashley Madison and Eros. Sometimes it’s after a dalliance online with someone transgender, or of the same sexual orientation.
Weisberg says wealthy targets are vulnerable because of their closeted sexual preferences and their familial relationships.
Stacey Richman, a Bronx-based criminal defense lawyer with a high-profile national clientele, says that sextortion “is an ugly term with ugly consequences.”
She says that “for some, it’s business”, especially in the dark corners of the online sex trade.
“For some it’s a lot of fun. The risk of exposure is extremely terrifying because in our country you cannot get back your reputation, really,” she says.
“You will always be sullied.” It is tragic because it debases true victims.
Favorite target: NBA and NFL players
Lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic claim they have seen an increase in shakedowns against young athletes, particularly in the NBA/NFL.
“You have children that have grown up in happy families. They have dedicated their lives to their sport. Richman said that they’re not partiers.
“And then they meet some of these people —” Richman divides them into two groups, “predators” and “obsessives” — “and it can be devastating.”
Weisberg said, “They hit the young athletes.” “They’re 21 years of age, and they’re in a strange place, perhaps in New York, for the first-time.” These guys are actually lonely.
“And someone on Instagram said, ‘Hey! What are you doing after tonight’s game?
“Then we have a young man calling to say he has a wife, babies, or a girlfriend pregnant and can’t find out anything online or in person. He’s going to be pissed off by the team.”
Anatomy and structure of a sextortion defense
Every sextortion defense case begins in the same way, Saland (an ex-prosecutor) and Weisberg (an ex-NYPD detective) told Insider in an interview.
They get the client to lower his/her head.
The CEO of Seeking Arrangements was now threatening to “blow-up” his business. Take a deep breath. Saland says that he told the panicking guy, just like he tells all his clients.
Saland assures them, “They’re going to not blow you up.” “Because they’re not going to blow you up,” Saland assures them.
Weisberg, the would-be blackmailer, says that “they only have one grenade they can throw.”
Saland agrees, “And if that’s what they throw,” he said. They have lost their money.”
The CEO never revealed her real name or address. Before taking the case, Saland & Weisberg had to find out who she was and confirm that she was of legal age.
According to the two, they refuse clients who are being extorted about actual criminal behavior like drug abuse, domestic violence, and sex crimes.
Weisberg says, “There’s no judgment as long as our guy is the victim.”
But in his panic, the CEO, like most clients, had blocked the woman’s number and was on the brink of deleting her texts — an evidentiary no-no, Saland and Weisberg say.
Saland states, “If there are text messages, give them me.” “If there were phone calls, give me the logs. Do not delete. Do not block. This will allow them to send us more threats and provide more evidence.
“Don’t edit,” adds Weisberg. “We tell people all of the time. You are basically in the doctor’s chair. We can’t help you if you don’t tell everything. He says with a smile that if you don’t take your pants off at the doctor’s office, you won’t get a good exam.”
Standing are Jeremy Saland (an attorney and former prosecutor) and Herman Weisberg (a private investigator and former NYPD detective). The two are based together in Manhattan to fight “sextortions” against wealthy clients.
Erika Ramirez/Insider
Both Saland and Weisberg fought and won their first big extortion cases while working for the Manhattan DA’s office.
Saland was sentenced for trying to take down NBA star Carmelo Anthony, serving a three year term. Weisberg was a DA Investigator in 2010 and helped crack the David Letterman Blackmail case. A television producer threatened Letterman with revealing his extramarital affairs to female staffers.
They now use their law enforcement skills to help victims of sextortion who pay top dollar, typically between $30,000 and $75,000 for each case.
“Is there a Zelle Payment? Is there a PayPal transaction? Did you receive phone messages? Now we have a named. Saland says, “I’m looking for the exact same evidence that I would seek as an attorney.”
Weisberg: “It’s basically an skip trace.”
Each case is unique, but the two of them begin to build a dossier about the sextorter. They collect enough information to turn things around, sometimes quietly filing a family court order if there is a domestic relationship. Sometimes, they also draft a long, well-researched and written “cease and desist” letter.
The family court petition as well as a cease-and-desist letter will inform the sextorter that an inquiry has revealed that their accusations are false and that their behavior constitutes criminal.
Weisberg states that “having an affair is legal.”
“But, you’ll be able to tell someone that I’m at your house at four in morning and I’m going ring your doorbell and tell you that my wife and I are having an affair, if you don’t pay me, but that’s illegal. That’s grand larceny.
A surprise visit
Weisberg’s investigation into the CEO case revealed that the young woman was addicted to drugs and lived outside Manhattan with a man she called “manager”.
Weisberg remembers the woman as saying, “At first, I couldn’t get her to me,” Weisberg said. She communicated only via a hard-to-track “VoIP,” which is Voice over Internet Protocol.
But Weisberg’s staff discovered her and were hiding outside her apartment when she and her manager went outside for a smoke break.
Weisberg recalls that she called her and had a video feed of her at the time.
“And she called the man she called her’manager.’ He was aggressive and very chesty with me, saying things like “Fuck you!” He’s going to go down! This refers to the CEO.
“And I was able tell her, your boyfriend?” He should be careful with what he carries in the knapsack. I know there is a lot of marijuana in there because he just took it out.
Weisberg went on to describe what both of them were wearing —”I said, ‘you’re wearing a big track suit, with a rainbow thing going up the side, and your boyfriend’s got a multi-colored hat with a backpack I saw him take weed out of.”
Weisberg pointed out that a police car was parked down the street by chance.
Weisberg recalls that “I just loved that moment when she thought it was impossible to find her”
“She began to look around. I replied, “Yeah. You look more to your left. Can you see the radio car right there? I wish I could play the tape to you, because the changes in their voices was remarkable.”
Saland’s seven-page, single-spaced cease and desist letter — which omitted any identifying details about the client, so it couldn’t be “weaponized” against him — rattled the woman and her manager still further.
“As I read the following, I encourage and encourage you to seek advice or speak with your father, Mr. [name redacted]It was designed to help you understand the consequences of what you do.
Weisberg reports that “he ran away with his tail between the legs and she went home to her relatives” within a short time.
“I never threaten. Saland states that Herman would never threat to harm.
“I just laid out your criminal conduct and the law you have violated and explained that our client will exercise his or her rights to full extent of the law just like any other crime.”
Saland jokes that online reviews are rare. “They never write, thank you for all the help with this extortion.
“But people can be incredibly grateful.”
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