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Blackmailers pay for $2m sex tape ransom case
Two blackmailers were jailed yesterday for a total of almost 12 years, after using sex tapes to extort HK$2 million from a woman.
District Court judge Timothy Casewell criticized the blackmailers' behavior as brutal, humiliating and bullying, adding that the duo kept the sex tapes even after the victim - identified as X in court - paid the HK$2 million ransom.
Both defendants were earlier convicted of one count of blackmail each and one of them - who was in the sex tapes with X - was also convicted of fraud. They were identified as W Y L M and K D D H in court.
W Y L M was jailed for six years and one month, and his accomplice for five years and seven months.
The court heard that between July 31, 2019 and January 2 last year, the duo asked X for HK$2 million in exchange for the naked photos and sex tapes that she took more than 10 years ago.
X testified behind curtains in court, where she said she had filmed one or two sex tapes with W Y L M for private use. She sobbed that she was young and naive, and did it without thinking about the possible consequences.
In July 2019, X received an e-mail from K D D H, who said that he possesed sex tapes and photos of X and W Y L M, and that he could "accidentally leak" them.
X told the court she was worried about the tapes going public, which could ruin her career.
She subsequently hired lawyers and replied to K D D H's e-mail, asking him to send her the tapes he mentioned.
Then in August 2019, W Y L M contacted X through Facebook and sent her three photos and one video of her.
X said she was astonished and "could not believe he had kept the video from so many years ago." X applied for an injunction from the court to ban the duo from publicizing her naked photos and videos, after which the second defendant told her in an e-mail he would comply with the injunction, but also said he could not guarantee they would not be "accidentally leaked.
He had cited a similar leak from 2008 involving star Edison Chen Koon-hei and multiple female singers and actresses.
X said she felt threatened, and in January 2 last year, X's lawyer invited the duo for a meeting at his law firm, where the lawyer laid out HK$2 million cash in the conference room and audio-recorded the meeting.
The duo were subsequently arrested by police officers lying in ambush in the law firm. Cops seized a USB stick from the first defendant's backpack that had X's sex tapes and photos.
Some of the photos and videos had not been used to blackmail X, prompting officers to suspect that the duo planned to further threaten X with those materials.
Both defendants were earlier convicted of one count of blackmail each and one of them - who was in the sex tapes with X - was also convicted of fraud. They were identified as W Y L M and K D D H in court.
W Y L M was jailed for six years and one month, and his accomplice for five years and seven months.
The court heard that between July 31, 2019 and January 2 last year, the duo asked X for HK$2 million in exchange for the naked photos and sex tapes that she took more than 10 years ago.
X testified behind curtains in court, where she said she had filmed one or two sex tapes with W Y L M for private use. She sobbed that she was young and naive, and did it without thinking about the possible consequences.
In July 2019, X received an e-mail from K D D H, who said that he possesed sex tapes and photos of X and W Y L M, and that he could "accidentally leak" them.
X told the court she was worried about the tapes going public, which could ruin her career.
She subsequently hired lawyers and replied to K D D H's e-mail, asking him to send her the tapes he mentioned.
Then in August 2019, W Y L M contacted X through Facebook and sent her three photos and one video of her.
X said she was astonished and "could not believe he had kept the video from so many years ago." X applied for an injunction from the court to ban the duo from publicizing her naked photos and videos, after which the second defendant told her in an e-mail he would comply with the injunction, but also said he could not guarantee they would not be "accidentally leaked.
He had cited a similar leak from 2008 involving star Edison Chen Koon-hei and multiple female singers and actresses.
X said she felt threatened, and in January 2 last year, X's lawyer invited the duo for a meeting at his law firm, where the lawyer laid out HK$2 million cash in the conference room and audio-recorded the meeting.
The duo were subsequently arrested by police officers lying in ambush in the law firm. Cops seized a USB stick from the first defendant's backpack that had X's sex tapes and photos.
Some of the photos and videos had not been used to blackmail X, prompting officers to suspect that the duo planned to further threaten X with those materials.
