The Unlikely Gigolo (in Germany)

The Unlikely Gigolo
Vidya Ram, 03.09.09, 04:20 PM EDT
Helg Sgarbi, a former Credit Suisse banker, is sentenced to six years for attempted blackmail.



Arriving in a Munich court room on Monday morning, with his thick-rimmed glasses and a black suit slightly too large for his thin frame, 44-year-old Helg Sgarbi didn’t look the part of a gigolo who had swindled and attempted to blackmail Germany's richest woman out of millions.

However, on Monday, the former Credit Suisse mergers and acquisitions banker and Swiss army officer, nicknamed the "Swiss gigolo," was sentenced to six years in prison, after admitting he had attempted to defraud and blackmail BMW heiress Susanna Klatten and three other women

Sgarbi said he "deeply" regretted what had happened and apologized "to the aggrieved ladies." None of them, Klatten included, were there to hear his apology.

The scandal, which has enthralled the German media since last year, emerged after 46-year-old Klatten went to the police, after Sgarbi had attempted to blackmail her for 49.0 million euros ($61.7 million) over a video of them having sex in a Munich hotel. (See "Billionaire Sex Scandals.")

Klatten, who is married with three children and No. 55 on the Forbes billionaires list, began her affair with Sgarbi in the south of France in 2007, after meeting him at an exclusive health spa in Austria -- an encounter which Sgarbi later admitted planning. Sgarbi first convinced Klatten to give him 7.0 million euros ($8.8 million) in cash, claiming he had paralyzed a girl in a car crash in Florida, and needed the money to pay her family. After failing to persuade her to run away with him, and place 290.0 million euros ($365.6 million) in a trust fund, he made the blackmail attempt that eventually landed him in so much hot water.

His strategy with Klatten had been tried and tested before, beginning with the wealthy Countess Verena du Pasquier Geubels, 50 years his senior, in 2001, who filed charges against him, but withdrew them before she died. On Monday, he was also found guilty of attempting blackmail and fraud for 2.4 million euros ($3.0 million), with three other unidentified wealthy women.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

HHH says:

Di Jerman perkara sebegini menjadi satu isu moral yang berat tetapi pesalah berlaku "gentleman' dengan mengaku kesilapan dan berasa kesal dengan kejadian yang berlaku.

Di Malaysia pun ada juga isu sebegini, tetapi kebiasaannya si pesalah dengan wajah 'selamba taik idong' berlaku macam tiada apa-apa berlaku.

Moral cerita: Bangsa Jerman walaupun terang-terang bukan beragama Islam tetapi masih ada nilai kemanusiaan dengan sudi mengaku kesilapan dan memohon maaf atas kesilapan.

Bangsa yang menganut agama Islam di Malaysia, kalau udah benar bersalah pun masih 'rileks' senyum dan melambai tangan ke arah lensa wartawan tanpa ada rasa bersalah.

Pikir-pikirkan dan sama-sama perbaiki diri kita dan martabatkan agama kita.