David Letterman Extortion Plot

Talk about a strange turn of events for David Letterman, the host of CBS’s late night show. A fellow employee of the media giant has been indicted in an extortion plot, after trying to blackmail Letterman for the tune of 2 million dollars.

What was even stranger is that Letterman broke the news of this whole fiasco on air. He talked about everything in chronological order which included admission to the sexual relationships with female staffers in front of millions of viewers on the show!

The man charged with first-degree grand larceny, Robert J. Halderman, is a producer for the true-crime show 48 Hours. He was arrested Thursday and is looking at some serious time as first-degree grand larceny comes with a maximum sentence of 15 years while the minimum he’s looking at if convicted is 5 years.

Apparently Halderman left a letter for David Letterman on September 9th informing him that unless he was given a large chunk of money that he was going to disclose personal information on Letterman. The term that has been used is that Halderman was giving him the “screenplay treatment” which essentially means that he was going to sell a synopsis of all the information he had on him unless Letterman paid up.

Halderman went on to say that Letterman's world would "collapse around him" and that his reputation would be ruined and it would also destroy his professional and family life, prosecutors said.

According to reports, Letterman immediately contacted his lawyer after reading the letter, who arranged a meeting with Halderman. During the meeting, Halderman demanded $2 million to keep the material secret, the district attorney's office said. Once the meeting was over Letterman and his lawyer immediately contacted the DA's office who launched an investigation.

In the on-air admission, he recounts the entire events of the day from when he found the package containing evidence of the sexual encounters, to calling his attorney, all the way up to his meeting with the DA. According to Dave, they had three meetings with Halderman and in that meeting he apparently actually handed over a $2 million check, which wasn’t real of course.

On the day of the airing, Letterman talked about how he had to testify before the grand jury and how he felt scared for himself and his family. A warrant was then issued and Halderman was arrested at noon on the day of the show. He then admits, very bluntly, to having sex with woman on the show.

This is far from over but what makes this event strange is that all the cards have been thrown on the table and its going to be a big clean up job now. The trouble for Dave will be the personal issues he will face as he recently married Regina Lasko, his long time girlfriend, in March. The couple have a son together, Harry, who was born in November 2003.

This isn’t the first time Letterman has had to deal with a threat to himself and family, in 2005 a kidnapping plot was carried out by a former employee on Letterman's ranch who sought a $5 million ransom in a plot to kidnap his son and nanny.

It will be interesting to see how this all develops but kudos to Dave for stepping up and informing the public on what had happened rather than trying to sweep it under the rug.