David Letterman's Blackmailer Free to Make Money the Old-Fashioned Way

Robert "Joe" Halderman is released from Rikers Island after just four months of his six-month sentence for attempted larceny against Late Show host

Forget a Top 10, David Letterman only needs one reason to be wary this week: his blackmailer is once again a free man.

Accounting for good behavior, Emmy nominee (go figure) Robert "Joe" Halderman left Rikers Island this morning after serving just four months of his six-month sentence.

Lindsay Lohan would be so proud!

The man who attempted to bring down the Late Show host—or at least his marriage, reputation and bank account—still has a couple elements of his sentence remaining, namely his order to complete 1,000 hours of community service and his four-and-a-half year probation.

As long as it's nowhere near the community on 53rd and Broadway, it should be fine.

"He survived this, and he's glad to be getting off the island," Halderman's lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said in a statement yesterday.

The 52-year-old 48 Hours producer pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of attempted first-degree larceny, admitting that he tried to bilk $2 million from Letterman in exchange for not exposing his affairs with staffers.

Letterman ultimately beat him to the punch, exposing his own behavior on his show, as well as that of Halderman, and making quite the compelling hour of television in the process.