CBS Producer Arrested In Letterman Plot

Joe Halderman Suspect in Attempted $2M Extortion Over Late Show Host's Affairs

(CBS/AP)  Late-night host David Letterman acknowledged on Thursday's show that he had sexual relationships with female employees and that someone tried to extort $2 million from him over the affairs.

CBS was made aware of an ongoing police investigation involving Letterman and an employee at "48 Hours," who was subsequently arrested Thursday on charges of attempted grand larceny in the first degree.

CBS is cooperating fully with the authorities and the employee has been suspended pending the results of the investigation. Letterman addressed the issue during the show's broadcast last night, and CBS believes his comments speak for themselves.

Watch Letterman's remarks
Photos: David Letterman

CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace reports that Letterman's alleged extortionist was Joe Halderman, a 20-year-plus veteran of CBS News.

The "48 Hours" producer was taken into custody Thursday by two plain-clothes police officers outside the CBS News broadcast center in Manhattan.

Halderman is an award-winning journalist who has covered several wars for CBS, reports Wallace. He has worked as a producer for the real-life crime show "48 Hours" for more than a decade.

Letterman told his story during the taping of his show, mixing in jokes to an audience that seemed confused about what it was. He called it a "bizarre experience" that left him feeling disturbed and menaced.

In a release from the show's production company, Letterman said he referred the matter to the Manhattan district attorney's office. An investigation ended in the arrest Thursday after Letterman issued a phony $2 million check to keep the matter silent.

The late-night comic began his show by walking onstage and briefly leaning on a pillar with his back to the audience. Then he gave a monologue with jokes against frequent foils like Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. He told his personal story after sitting behind his desk.

He said he was glad the audience was in a pleasant mood "because I have a little story that I'd like to tell you and the home viewers as well."

Three weeks ago, Letterman said he got in his car early in the morning and found a package with a letter saying "I know that you do some terrible, terrible things and that I can prove you do some terrible things." He acknowledged the letter contained proof.

Letterman said he called his lawyer to set up a meeting with Halderman, who threatened to write a screenplay and a book about Letterman unless he was given money. There were two subsequent meetings, the last one resulting in the check being delivered.

He told the audience that he had to testify before a grand jury on Thursday.

"I was worried for myself, I was worried for my family," he said. "I felt menaced by this, and I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I had done."

"The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show," he said. "My response to that is yes, I have. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Yes, it would, especially for the women."

Whether they wanted to make the relationships public was up to them, he said.

"It's been a very bizarre experience," he said. "I felt like I needed to protect these people. I need to protect my family. I need to protect myself. Hope to protect my job."

"He had to get out there first," CBS "Early Show" legal analyst Lisa Bloom said of Letterman, adding that Halderman could face between 9 and 22 years if convicted.

Letterman mixed in jokes while telling the story, keeping his audience off guard.

"I know what you're saying," he said. "I'll be darned, Dave had sex."

It was not immediately clear when the relationships took place; Letterman and longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko married in March. The couple began dating in 1986 and have a son, Harry, born in November 2003.

It's the second set of embarrassing headlines for Letterman in four months. In June, he apologized to Sarah Palin for making a crude joke about the former Republican vice presidential candidate's 14-year-old daughter. Although there was a small "fire Letterman" demonstration outside of his studio later, CBS stood by its late-night star.

After nearly 15 years in second place to NBC's Jay Leno in the ratings, Letterman took over the top spot this summer after Conan O'Brien became "Tonight" show host.

Letterman's CBS "Late Show" has been on the air since 1993 and before that, he had a late-night show on NBC from 1982 to 1993.

Alicia Maxey Greene, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office, declined to comment.

Letterman was also the victim of a 2005 plot by a former painter on his Montana ranch to kidnap his nanny and son for a $5 million ransom. The former painter, Kelly A. Frank, briefly escaped from prison in 2007 before being recaptured.

Another alleged extortion scandal surrounding a public figure, Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino, similarly forced him this summer to acknowledge an affair.

[jrwgyw5242]

sorry about the spelling

[jrwgyw5242]

let me tell you i have more things that shoud be talled about then the man trying to take money from someone with all of it.
way do we care about this when in the USA there are so many women and children being abused in america'' what are we doing about that,why can we americans doing something to stop this is something we all should mad as hell and we hear nothing'' tell me what is wrong with county that we let are chuldren go with out are women be abused and get noone says nothing' way are we all so ready to help someone like david and not or children?

[furtiveadmirer]

all is not what it appears... extortionists don't take checks. contortionists do. more to be exposed...too bad for letterman...he's eccentric.

[SamTCat]

Just judging from the level of approval and support Letterman's been getting by people who keep reducing his actions to just a relationship between consenting adults, rather than the affair it was which was apparently a secret to Letterman's live-in girlfriend (now wife) and his viewers, and maybe some of his staffers - it's easy to understand how celebrities develop feelings of entitlement and invulnerability when they're surrounded by sycophants and yes-men.

I wonder why Letterman's attorneys didn't suggest he turn the tables on his extortionist and threaten to report him to authorities unless he gave up, rather than actually go ahead and report him. Legally I think that would be justified as self-defense, and then the information wouldn't have had to be made public. But now that it is, part of me was initially feeling like well if this evidence is only coming to light as fruit of the poisonous tree of illegality that was the extortion attempt, then is it fair to be assessing Letterman with it given that none of us would have known about it if not for the illegality? And what I came up with is that maybe if Letterman hadn't let celebrity get ot his head and picked up with this questionable chick, then maybe he wouldn't have been left vulnerable to an extortion attempt?

I'll bet somebody's been advising him to make fun of himself in jokes, and there's going to be tons of people who'll praise him for it. But maybe the true lesson to be learned from all of this is that his actions had consequences, and maybe being forced to have to deal with those consequences now that all his dirty little secrets have come to life could really be a blessing in disguise if that's how he chooses to view it.

Or maybe all he cares about are his ratings, who knows.

[slyham166]

Letterman did the right thing getting the police involved and extorter will pay for his crime.Dave must have treated those woman pretty well since none have taken advantage by claiming injury or insult.I believe Lettermans haters are angry at how he treats Palin.Palin supporters are probably involved.Just my opinion will keep watching Go Letterman yoy're smarter than they are especially if they support Palin and her insane & 'racist" comments.Hopefully she will wake up and realize Obama Adm. and her can work together to make America Great again. Let us Pray on it.

[covalentblue]

Well is certainly looks like nobody is being left out as far as getting screwed at CBS is concerned!
www.hatecards.net

[karenckinzie]

It is disappointing to read about Mr Letterman and the incidents surrounding his personal life. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others who also live in glass houses - even if you are a comedian.

[Kit54]

I wonder why Dave wasn't laughing when he exposed Halderman's extortion attempt? Instead we saw him all chocked up and teary-eyed. Even though he went about it the wrong way, hats off to Halderman to further exposing this jerk for what he really is, and what a legacy he leaves for his yong daughter.

[babooph]

Since when is the casting couch "NEW" news?

[ralphcap]

Way to go. Totally ignore the sexual harassment aspect of the story. What about the employees who weren't banging the boss? The bangee always gets the favored treatment. It has a chilling effect on the employees who are not providing sexual favors. He can joke about it all he wants and CBS News can try to ignore it all they want but your spin won't work.