Speak Chinese - Man tried to blackmail Oprah, FBI says

ENTERTAINMENT / Television






Man tried to blackmail Oprah, FBI says

(AP)
Updated: 2007-01-07 10:31





Oprah Winfrey is seen in this picture made Monday, Oct. 9, 2006, in New
York....


A man has been charged with trying to extort $1.5 million from Oprah
Winfrey by threatening to release recorded telephone conversations he
claimed would hurt her reputation, according to the FBI and published
reports.

Keifer Bonvillain, 36, targeted a person identified only as "a public
figure and the owner of a Chicago-based company," according to a criminal
complaint filed in U.S. District Court. The Chicago Tribune and the
Chicago Sun-Times, citing unnamed sources, reported Saturday that
Bonvillain's target was Winfrey.

Bonvillain, of Atlanta, was arrested Dec. 15 in the parking lot of an
Atlanta hotel and released on $20,000 bail. He was scheduled for a
preliminary hearing in Chicago on Monday.

According to the complaint, Bonvillain met a California-based employee of
the Chicago company at a party more than two years ago, then recorded
conversations with the employee about the owner and her business.

In mid-October he sent the owner an e-mail, telling her an employee said
awful things about her, the complaint states.

A month later, Bonvillain sent a letter saying he had tapes of the
conversations, an FBI agent alleges in the complaint. In response,
another associate of the company called Bonvillain and learned he had
taped 12 hours of those discussions.

Over the next few weeks, Bonvillain told the associate he wanted to
publish a book based on the tapes and claimed he had received offers of
$500,000 to $3 million from tabloids and book publishers, the complaint
said.

"There are a lot of people who would want these," Bonvillain said,
according to the complaint.

The associate, who was working with the FBI, agreed to a $1.5 million
price, wired Bonvillain $3,000 in earnest money and arranged to meet him
in the parking lot, the complaint said. Bonvillain was arrested the next
day.

Bonvillain told the Sun-Times the charges were a misunderstanding.

"There is nothing to it," he said. "It's nothing. It was a big mix-up."

A call Saturday to a number for a Bonvillain in Atlanta reached a
recorded message saying the line had been disconnected.

Bonvillain's attorney, Kent Carlson, told the Tribune and Sun-Times he
could neither confirm nor deny details in the complaint. Phone and e-mail
messages left by The Associated Press for Carlson were not immediately
returned Saturday.

Winfrey was out of the country Saturday. There was no immediate response
to phone messages seeking comment from Harpo Productions Inc., Winfrey's
company, or the U.S. attorney's office.









Related Stories



� Oprah: Donating to charity wasn't enough
===========================================================================
� Oprah Winfrey reality series headed to prime time
===========================================================================
� Oprah gives audience members debit cards
===========================================================================
� It's not over, Aniston tells Oprah
===========================================================================
� Oprah Winfrey says she is not gay
===========================================================================
� Oprah says her lawyers overreacted
===========================================================================










Top Entertaiment News




� Lohan to have surgery to remove appendix

� J.Lo honored by People en Espanol

� Faye Wong gets new business?

� Elizabeth Hurley sets a date for wedding

� DiCaprio, Mirren nominated by actors in Oscars indicator





Today's Top News




� Chinese rescue group arrives in Nigeria

� Low-income relieved from tax burden

� Stay of Saddam co-defendants execution urged

� Olympic supervision to be tightened

� ICBC says will buy Indonesian Bank





Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours








Learn Chinese, Learn Mandarin online, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing,