DA: Threats against Letterman were taped
Photo credit: Getty Images | Robert "Joe" Halderman, center, appears at his arraignment in an alleged blackmail plot against David Letterman in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. (Oct. 2, 2009)
DA: Man Charged With Letterman Extortion Plot
Photos: David Letterman extorted
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Secretly taped recordings of a CBS producer's plot extorting $2 million from "Late Night" host David Letterman contained "explicit and actual threats," prosecutors said Friday.
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COMPLETE COVERAGE OF DAVID LETTERMAN EXTORTION CASE
The recordings were described in the arraignment of Robert J. Halderman, 51, of Norwalk, Conn., in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Halderman pleaded not guilty to first-degree attempted grand larceny. On Thursday Letterman acknowledged on his TV show to millions of viewers that he had sexual affairs with female employees. Halderman posted the $200,000 bail and was released from custody later Friday.
Prosecutors declined to discuss possible motive or the relationship between Letterman and Halderman, a producer of CBS' "48 Hours Mystery."
Letterman's assistant Stephanie Birkitt, 34, once lived with Halderman, public records show. Birkitt, who couldn't be reached Friday, is a Plymouth, N.H., native who once worked for CBS News as a producer before eventually moving on to Letterman's show.
"There is another side of this story," said Halderman's attorney, Gerald Shargel of Manhattan. "This story is far more complicated." He declined to comment further.
In court on Friday, Assistant District Attorney Judy Salwen said the recordings taped in a sting show Halderman's actions as alarming and dangerous. "They contained clear, explicit and actual threats to destroy the reputation of Mr. Letterman," she said.
Salwen described Halderman as deep in debt, divorced and a father of two.
Manhattan district attorney's office investigators outfitted Letterman's lawyer with a wire after the attorney and the late-night host contacted prosecutors about the blackmail plot on Sept. 9.
On that day, Letterman was headed for work at 6 a.m. when he found Halderman lurking outside his Manhattan home, authorities said.
Halderman handed Letterman a packet he said was a screenplay treatment that turned out to be an extortion attempt. The packet included a letter reading that Halderman needed to "make a large chunk of money" by selling the one-page screenplay.
The letter referred to Letterman's son Harry and said the host's "world is about to collapse around him" if information in the packet ever went public. Halderman also left materials in Letterman's car, prosectors said.
Authorities declined to discuss what personal information Halderman had or how it was obtained.
After receiving the packet, Letterman immediately called his attorney, whose name wasn't released, prosecutors said. The lawyer called District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office and a Sept. 15 meeting with Halderman was arranged.
Two other meetings between Halderman and Letterman's lawyer followed on Sept. 23 and Sept. 30. During those meetings, the conversations between the two were recorded.
Letterman didn't take part in any of the meetings, which all took place at Jumeriah Essex House on Central Park South.
Morgenthau said the lawyer turned over a $2-million check to Halderman during the last meeting. The following day, Halderman deposited the check that "was designed to bounce," Morgenthau said.
Halderman, a CBS employee for 27 years, was arrested Thursday outside the network's studios at 524 W. 57th St.
Halderman's next court date is Nov. 10.
With Keith Herbert
