Germany’s richest woman hands £5m to gigolo in blackmail plot

Heiress Susanne Klatten, 46, who has an estimated £8 billion fortune and is the 40th richest person in the world, was blackmailed by her Swiss lover Helg Sgarbi and his accomplice, hotel owner Ernano Barretta.

They threatened to send newspapers secretly filmed DVDs of the married mother-of-three having sex with male prostitute Sgarbi, 41.

Mrs Klatten handed over more than £5 million before going to police, who launched a joint Italian-German operation. Telephone calls between all three were intercepted and listening devices planted in Barretta's home near Pescara on Italy's Adriatic Coast. Barretta is the self-styled head of a religious sect and police believe that he and Sgarbi may have blackmailed other rich women.

Mrs Klatten inherited her fortune on the death of her father, Herbert Quandt, receiving 50.1 per cent of chemical company Altana. She also has a 12.5  per cent stake in BMW.

The Quandt family worked closely with Adolf Hitler during the Second World War and Sgarbi told police he was motivated by revenge as his Jewish father had been extradited to Germany where he worked in a steel factory run by Quandt.

Italian police said Mrs Klatten began an affair with Sgarbi in 2006 and they would meet in Monte Carlo for sex. Each encounter was filmed by Barretta, both in the bedroom and on the street.

The first DVD was sent to Mrs Klatten in November last year. Another, a month later, came with a demand for £28 million, which was then lowered to £5 million. The blackmailers used the cash to buy expensive cars.

In her statement to Italian police Mrs Klatten said: "Sgarbi told me that the Italian-American Mafia were threatening to kill him because he had run over a Godfather's child. I believed him and I gave him money but then a while later it became more serious and threatening and the blackmail started."