Susanne Klatten, 49, a German heiress to a business empire, which includes the BMW car manufacturer and a chemical conglomerate, had been seduced by Helg Sgarbi, 46, a Swiss conman.
One of the world's richest women has spoken out about how she paid a gigolo 6.2 million pounds as "an act of love", but was later blackmailed by him after she refused to give more.
Susanne Klatten, 49, a German heiress to a business empire, which includes the BMW car manufacturer and a chemical conglomerate, had been seduced by Helg Sgarbi, 46, a Swiss conman.
Klatten, a mother of three, who is worth an estimated £8.8 billion, was giving evidence in court in Pescara, Italy, at the trial of Ernani Barretta, 63, the alleged mastermind of the plot.
Sgarbi, who was nicknamed "James Bond" by some of his conquests, introduced himself to Klatten at a health spa in Tyrol, Austria, in July 2007. They began an affair and would meet in a Holiday Inn in Munich.
She revealed that she had been very afraid when Sgarbi, who was jailed for six years in 2009, threatened to publish nude photographs and sex tapes of the two of them.
Klatten agreed to give Sgarbi, a former investment banker, 6.2 million pounds after he told her that he had injured the child of a mafia godfather in a car accident in the US and would be killed unless he paid "compensation".
She told the court that she gave Sgarbi the money as "an act of love". A few weeks later he asked Klatten to give him an additional £40 million, and when she refused began blackmailing her.
"He asked me to meet him in a suite in the Holiday Inn in Munich," the Telegraph quoted her as saying.
"There he showed me two pictures. In one of them I was completely naked, and he was too. I could see that the images came from a video, and I was afraid.
"Next to the photos there was a letter in which he threatened to send them to my family and the press. At that point I ended the relationship and went to the police," she revealed.
Sgarbi pleaded guilty to fraud and blackmail in 2009 and was jailed for six years.
Barretta was arrested after Italian police found 2 million euros buried near his country retreat. He denies any involvement and claims he is "100 per cent innocent". The trial continues.
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