Arrest In Oprah Shakedown Plot

Talk Show Host Allegedly Target Of $1.5 Million Extortion Attempt

(AP)  A man allegedly tried to extort $1.5 million from Oprah Winfrey by threatening to release taped telephone conversations that he claimed would hurt her reputation, according to a federal complaint.

Keifer Bonvillain, 36, allegedly demanded that a Winfrey representative pay him the money in exchange for 12 hours of recorded telephone conversations he'd had with a Winfrey employee he met two years earlier at a party, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

Bonvillain targeted “Individual A,” who was “a public figure and the owner of a Chicago-based company,” the complaint said. The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, citing unnamed sources, reported Saturday that Individual A was Winfrey.

Bonvillain was arrested Dec. 15 in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel and released on $20,000 bond. He was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Chicago on Monday.

According to the complaint, Bonvillain asked a California-based Winfrey employee questions about Winfrey and her business. In mid-October he allegedly sent Winfrey an e-mail, telling her an employee said awful things about her.

In mid-November, Bonvillain allegedly sent a letter, saying he had tapes of the conversations. In response, another Winfrey associate called Bonvillain and learned he had taped 12 hours of those discussions.

Over the next few weeks, Bonvillain allegedly told the associate that he wanted to publish a book based on the “shocking” and “newsworthy” tapes and claimed he had received offers of $500,000 to $3 million from tabloids and book publishers.

Bonvillain allegedly said "... there are a lot of people who would want these tapes and those people would not be '... concerned about the truth,'" the complaint said.

The second associate, who was secretly in contact with the FBI, allegedly agreed to a $1.5 million price, wired Bonvillain $3,000 in earnest money and arranged to meet him in the hotel parking lot. He was arrested the next day.

Bonvillain's attorney, Kent Carlson, told the Tribune and Sun-Times he could neither confirm nor deny details in the complaint. Phone and e-mail messages left by The Associated Press for Carlson were not immediately returned.

A call placed by The Associated Press on Saturday to a number listed to a Bonvillain in Atlanta reached a recorded message saying the line had been disconnected. He told the Sun-Times the charges were a misunderstanding.

“There is nothing to it,” Bonvillain told the paper. “It's nothing. It was a big mix-up.”

Phone messages left for Harpo Productions Inc. and the U.S. attorney's office were not immediately returned Saturday.

Winfrey was in South Africa Saturday, where she welcomed parents of the girls chosen for her new leadership academy.

[agnim]

"I truly admire her for building a school in Africa, at least she %u201Cputs%u201D her money where her mouth is, unlike those who complain, complain, and complain, while doing nothing. Oprah is very conscientious and demonstrates a level of humanity that very few of us possess.

Posted by Kailumego1 at 04:52 PM : Jan 08, 2007"

That is the truthful summary of Magnanimous Miss O. LOL

[kailumego1]

Agnim, I'm all choked up, by "golly", you sure said a mouth full. Oprah is "MAGNANIMOUS", and what a "crock of bull", her audience is filled with whites that she supported financially. And for those blacks that have criticized her, for being too %u201Cwhite%u201D, they are just as "full of crock" as those whites. FYI, did you know the whites in South Africa, whom instigated %u201Capartheid%u201D, had the audacity to vehemently criticize her for not allowing more white girls into her academy.

[kailumego1]

Most blacks are angry with her, because they feel she doesn%u2019t do more to help blacks over here, in which she has donated millions to black charities, or have more of an %u201CAfrican American%u201D theme on her talk show. I read in an article that certain %u201CRap%u201D element has made disparaging and acrimonious comments about her, because she chose not to feature any of them on her show, in which I don%u2019t blame her. Oprah is very respectable, as such, her audience, and why would she have this type of obscenity on her talk show, which is likely to offend her audience and viewers. So, Agnim, you are correct, neither blacks nor whites have a leg to stand on where Oprah is concern. I truly admire her for building a school in Africa, at least she %u201Cputs%u201D her money where her mouth is, unlike those who complain, complain, and complain, while doing nothing. Oprah is very conscientious and demonstrates a level of humanity that very few of us possess. And this person trying to extort money from her should go %u201Cunder%u201D the jail.

[linfinster]

Oprah is beyond reproach. IF all she did was indeed only for children with black herritage it STILL would be the right thing! White people need to stop pissing and moaning about her philanthropy in Africa. (yeah, I'm white) We have enough resources to help our own in the USA, but instead we spend it on war, politics, politicians, CEO layoff packages, drug companies, hollywood idiots, you name it.. greed is in the way.
GOOD FOR HER!

[agnim]

I'm sure that this person's lineage doesn't bear a name like Bon-villain without bad cause. LOL
Thievery is in his blood line. Dam thief he is!

[agnim]

"I would like to see oprah give a rats arss about little white girls who've been molested as much as she cares about the little black girls

Posted by cantshutup at 03:09 PM : Jan 06, 2007"
LOL

Are you serious?
Have you ever looked at Oprah's audience? LOL

Not only is Oprah taking care of your 'little white girls'; Oprah is also baby sitting their big white mothers. LOL

Oprah is about the most magnanimous person in America!
It would be very hard to find someone else with the size heart to match Oprah's.
So we would do well to emulate Miss O instead of making a fool of ourselves by questioning her behavior in ignorance.

More to your point, there is so much 'white wealth' in America that you should be more concerned why greed and selfishness is preventing the 'white wealth' from being used to take care of your 'little white girls' that you have to wind up dogging on Magnanimous Miss O. LOL

Black fools hate on a good human being because in their myopia they think that Miss O is too white.
And white bigots hate on Miss O; because they think that she shouldn't be investing her wealth in people who look like her.

That's how it it with good humans; they can't win among fools! But they can know that they are doing good when fools b!tch and moan with envy!

[mellanese]

Oprah is a free woman in a free country and her "Angel Network" alone illustrates her ability and willingness to help ALL people in our society, regardless to race. It's her decision who or what she supports. Lives have been changed and that is a good thing.

[cantshutup]

I would like to see oprah give a rats arss about little white girls who've been molested as much as she cares about the little black girls