"A high-flying Wall Street whiz accused of cheating investors allegedly forked over $1.5 million to blackmailers who threatened to reveal the crooked deals and a stash of secret E-mails exposing a string of his steamy affairs.

Celebrity investment guru Todd Eberhard paid off the two employees after they showed him bound copies of "My True Life," a collection of stolen computer messages to his lovers.

The two junior executives threatened to show the racy book to his wife - with each chapter named after a different female conquest - and tell everything to federal regulators if he didn't fork over six-figure payoffs."

...

"He (Brian Mercier) had gotten into Eberhard's E-mail account and gave the incriminating messages to his cohort, who put the book together and then quit his job.

That book contained E-mails detailing illicit relationships that Mr. Eberhard had with women other than his wife," Mercier said in court.

At my co-conspirator's direction, I told Mr. Eberhard that my co-conspirator would tell Todd's wife about these illicit relationships if he did not agree to pay my co-conspirator a large amount of money."

Whole article is available at: Article from Daily News (NY)

The lesson? Maybe....don't extort for cash.

<small>[ May 02, 2003, 09:11 AM: Message edited by: est ]</small>

Seems like in the end, the adulterer and his blackmailers got what they so richly deserved.