Alleged Cindy Crawford Blackmailer Surrenders
Jean Paul Aussenard/Getty images; FBI
Cindy Crawford can breathe a little easier.
Edis Kayalar, the 26-year-old man accused of trying to extort $100,000 from the supermodel and husband Rande Gerber, turned himself in late Monday to police in Stuttgart, Germany.
According to authorities there, Kayalar surrendered in connection with the federal criminal complaint lodged by the couple last week. They claim Kayalar threatened to release a "prank" photo their nanny took of their then 7-year-old daughter tied to a chair and gagged during a game of cops and robbers. He demanded Gerber and Crawford hand over the money or he would make the seemingly inappropriate picture public.
The FBI subsequently launched a criminal investigation and a warrant was issued in Kayalar's home country. He had been deported from the U.S. a month ago on an unrelated matter—Kayalar has a violent history with his ex-wife and former girlfriend that include allegations of rape and beatings.
He was booked on one count of extortion in the Crawford case and faces up to two years in prison if convicted. He's due to appear before a judge sometime today.
A Violent Past for Alleged Cindy Crawford Extortionist: Exes Claimed Abuse and Rape
Jean Paul Aussenard/Getty images; FBI
Cindy Crawford's nanny was apparently mixing it up with the wrong kind of guy.
Court documents show that Edis Kayalar, who's accused of trying to extort more than $100,000 from Crawford and her husband, has a sordid past that includes allegations of rape and abuse from his ex-wife and another girlfriend.
Kayalar's ex, Jaclyn Marie Freckmann, obtained a restraining order against him last year after accusing him of raping and beating her in February 2008 when she asked him to move out after barely three months of marriage, according to the filing obtained by E! News.
The morning after she kicked him out, she says, he broke into the house, saying he didn't love her and had only married her for citizenship.
"I wouldn't speak to him so he punched, choked, restrained me, and then he continued to beat me and then rape me," Freckmann stated.
And yesterday he was only an alleged extortionist.
Update
"Sexy" Photo of Cindy Crawford's 7-Year-Old at Center of Alleged Extortion Scheme
John Shearer/Getty Images; FBI
Cindy Crawford's the only one who takes photos for money in this bunch.
The supermodel and husband Rande Gerber were targeted by a would-be extortionist who had in his possession a "sexy" photo of the couple's then 7-year-old daughter and wanted to make a deal so the pic "wouldn't end up in the tabloids," according to a federal criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
The couple told investigators that Edis "Eddie" Kayalar, who has since been deported back to his home country of Germany, called them in July, claiming to be a "good person" who just wanted to help them out.
According to the complaint, Kayalar told them that the photo, in which their young daughter was gagged, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, and tied to a chair, "just wasn't right" and he was "bothered" by it.
Presumably pretty horrified, Gerber and Crawford say that they had no idea such a photograph, which the family's former nanny has admitted to taking "as a prank," even existed.
George Clooney: My Buddy Isn't a Sexual Harasser!
Scott Harrison/Getty Images
George Clooney's next role could land him a prize for best supporting pal.
The Oscar winner is willing to get buddy Rande Gerber's back if a sexual-harassment lawsuit against Gerber (aka Mr. Cindy Crawford) winds up going to trial.
"I was with Rande the entire night, as were a lot of people, they will all say the same thing that I'm saying," Clooney said in a statement. "This event never happened. Period."
The "event" that Clooney and Gerber are disputing allegedly took place at the Gerber-owned Moonstone Lounge in the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego. In their suit, two waitresses claim they were fired after refusing Gerber's attempts to kiss them and feel them up.
"George 100 percent supports Rande Gerber's position that what they say happened that night never happened," Clooney's rep, Stan Rosenfield, told E! News, adding that if Clooney is called to testify on his friend’s behalf, he will be there.
Cindy Crawford's Hubby Sued for Sexual Harassment
Jean-Paul Aussenard/Getty Images
Rande Gerber obviously loves the nightlife. But does he like to boogie a little too much?
Cindy Crawford's hubby, who owns celebrity watering holes and other hotspots in more than a dozen cities, has been sued by two former employees for sexual harassment, according to court documents obtained by E! News.
A pair of women who once worked as waitresses at the Gerber Group's Moonstone Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, Calif., filed suit against the company and its namesake in March, saying they were fired after refusing Gerber's and other staffers' advances.
One of the plaintiffs claims that, on one night in 2008, Gerber tried to kiss her three times and then put his hand up her dress in an attempt to reach between her legs.
Shelly Scott and Gillian Walker are asking for unspecified damages.
In response to the complaint, a rep for Gerber calls the allegations "baseless" and says the "lawsuit has no merit."
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