from www.bloomberg.com – German police arrested three men suspected of trying to extort money from billionaire BMW heiress Susanne Klatten in a case involving sex tapes from a blackmail scandal last year.

Klatten, Germany’s wealthiest woman, turned to police last month, saying the group of men demanded 800,000 euros ($1.13 million) and a BMW X5 or they would sell alleged sex tapes of her to the Italian press, according to the Munich prosecutor.

“Mrs. Klatten went directly to the police and the police made contact with these people over the phone,” a spokesman for the prosecutor, Thomas Steinkraus-Koch, said in an interview.

Klatten, the heiress to BMW’s controlling family, is already the victim of a 44-year-old Swiss blackmail fraudster, Helg Sgarbi, who was sentenced to six years in prison in March. Sgarbi admitted in a German court that he threatened to distribute a video taken during his two-month affair with Klatten in 2007 and tried to extort 49 million euros from her.

The three men who claimed to have the videos agreed to a financial transfer two days ago with the police, believing they were talking to Klatten representatives. The police planted the money in a BMW X5 and arrested the men as they were arguing over who would pick up the car, Steinkraus-Koch said. A court in Duisburg issued the arrest warrants.

“There is no proof yet that the men had the videos or any contact with Sgarbi,” the spokesman said. The three men — aged 33, 43 and 46 — include at least a German and a Serb, he added.

Sgarbi’s blackmail scheme involved starting affairs with affluent women who then became his victims. Klatten, 46, who is married with three children, also informed the authorities about Sgarbi’s actions, which started the case against him.

Klatten owns a 12.6 percent stake in Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, according to Bloomberg data, and also controls 88.3 percent in chemical maker Altana AG. She ranked 35th on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s wealthiest people, with a $10 billion net worth.