Halderman Pleads Not Guilty to Blackmail

CBS News Producer Accused of Plotting to Extort Money from David Letterman Arraigned in Manhattan

(CBS/ AP)  Updated at 6:44 p.m. Eastern

A CBS News employee has pleaded not guilty to trying to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million in a plot that spurred the TV host to acknowledge sexual relationships with female staffers on his show.

Robert J. Halderman entered his plea as he was arraigned on an attempted grand larceny charge Friday in a Manhattan court. Bail has been set at $200,000, and Friday evening Halderman was released on bond, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor.

Prosecutors say Halderman demanded $2 million last month in exchange for not releasing information that would ruin Letterman's reputation. Letterman told millions of viewers on his show Thursday the threat concerned sexual liaisons with women who work for him.

Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, a producer for the true-crime show "48 Hours," was arrested Thursday and indicted on one count of attempted first-degree grand larceny, punishable by five to 15 years upon conviction, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.

"Our concern here is extortion, and that's what we're focusing on," Morgenthau said.

Documents filed in Stamford Superior Court in Connecticut show that Halderman, of Norwalk, was required to pay nearly $6,000 a month in child and spousal support to his ex-wife. Prosecutors declined to say whether Halderman had financial problems or other motives.

Halderman's lawyer, Gerald Shargel, didn't immediately return a telephone call Friday.

The district attorney's office said Halderman left a letter and other material for Letterman early Sept. 9. He wrote that he needed "to make a large chunk of money" by selling Letterman a screenplay treatment - an entertainment-business term for a synopsis used to pitch a screenplay.

The supposed treatment said Letterman's world would "collapse around him" when information about his private life was disclosed, leading to "a ruined reputation" and damaging his professional and family life, prosecutors said. It also mentioned Letterman's "beautiful and loving son," prosecutors said.

It wasn't clear whether the reference was meant as a threat to harm the boy. Letterman was the victim of a 2005 plot by a former painter at his Montana ranch to kidnap his nanny and son for a ransom.

After receiving the materials, Letterman immediately contacted his lawyer, who arranged a meeting with Halderman. At the meeting, Halderman demanded $2 million to keep the material secret, the district attorney's office said. After the meeting, Letterman and his lawyer contacted the DA's office and the investigation began.

In an extraordinary monologue before millions of viewers, the late-night host admitted that he had sexual relationships with female employees. Letterman said that "this whole thing has been quite scary," but he mixed in jokes while outlining what had happened to him.

Watch Letterman's remarks
Photos: David Letterman

It was a shock because the 62-year-old Letterman had married longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko in March. The couple began dating in 1986 and have a son, Harry, born in November 2003. It was not immediately clear when the relationships to which Letterman admitted took place, or how long they lasted.

Will "Other Shoes" Drop for Letterman

Fatherhood and his heart surgery in 2000 had seemed to mellow Letterman, who took over as the most popular late-night comedy host this summer after NBC replaced Jay Leno with Conan O'Brien on the "Tonight" show.

Letterman sat behind his desk to outline the scheme after a monologue that targeted some frequent foils like Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney.

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 that you do some terrible things." He acknowledged the letter contained proof.

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Halderman's Lawyer: Don't Rush To Judgment

He said it was terrifying "because there's something insidious about (it). Is he standing down there? Is he hiding under the car? Am I going to get a tap on the shoulder?"

A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the district attorney's office set up the undercover sting operation at the swank Jumeirah Essex House hotel in Manhattan. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation continues.

Police detectives were in an adjoining room with recording equipment and surveillance as Letterman's attorney met with Halderman and discussed terms of the extortion, the official said.

"At one point he told the attorney that he didn't want to have to work for the rest of his life, and the number he came up with was $2 million," the law enforcement official said.

Experts: Letterman Was Right To Come Clean

There were two subsequent meetings, with the man given a phony $2 million check at the last one. Letterman joked on his show it was like the giant ceremonial check given to winners of golf tournaments.

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."

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

Names Surface of Women Linked to Letterman

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."

CBS said in a statement that "we believe his comments speak for themselves."

Letterman's "Late Show" has been on the air since 1993. Before that, "Late Night with David Letterman" aired on NBC from 1982 to 1993.

Letterman won't be taping a show Friday. Friday night's show was taped Thursday.

The 2005 kidnapping plot was carried out by a former painter on Letterman's ranch and sought a $5 million ransom. The former painter, Kelly A. Frank, briefly escaped from prison in 2007 before being recaptured.

[Arinzechi]

Dear Mr Letterman

I read about your story , and I was driven to write this letter to you. I?m a man like u are ? with needs and weakness . But I believe we have to draw the very thick line between being a pig that loves to rootle in its own **** and a cat that hates the mere sight of it?s.

When I heard your story ,I though you where divorced. To have discovered that a poor woman was at the end of the receiving line was unimagined. To have cheated on your wife , not once but severally and never even felt guilty enough to confess to her , but waited until u were threatened with the possibility of a blackmail tells of how so very loving you are .Worse still to come on air and joke about it and switch on those laughing machines was totally intelligent .I couldn?t help but wonder if you where alright upstairs

Family apart , It is clear that as old as he is , Mr Letterman, isn?t bothered by the decaying moral situation of the American society .(I wonder if he has kids and grandkids ).Neither does he have any regard for the workplace ethic or for his co-workers .What a shame!! Again I ask myself ?Is he aging wisely enough to realize that such acts by everyday public figure like him increases society?s tolerance to such immorality by creating the impression that it is ok ? It is men like u that make others look like the cheats that women believe we all are. Oh I know everything is alright now..Afterall you apologized for this hideous act !!

Mr Letterman ,?Teach the young generation something better ? or get out of the TV screen. ?

Americans in various NGO are fighting for women?s rights and freedom form abuse all over the world. I think u should start fighting from home and the work place. My heart goes out to your wife .Besides having a heart of gold I believe she deserves the award for the most humiliated woman in history .

Ps Help restore morals back to America?It?s partly the reason American is in a great recession

Akachi Okonkwo
African Student in Japan,

[gboyd41]

Appears this is SOP for CBS. In my opinion, most people would've lost their job already. Guess not, at CBS, if your name is DAVE. Money talks. My guess is that CBS has not heard of sexual harassment-right!

[lakewin]

I think it is time CBS pulls the plug on Letterman. I do not watch the show anymore after he trashed Sarah Palin. He is arrogant and obnoxious.

[USA_GUY]

I think Dave and his shady lawyer set this poor guy up.
Dave should pay him the 2mill for raising his ratings. I really doubt this guy tried to extort money. Selling a screenplay isnt extortion. Even if it is about you Dave. Beside who really gives a crap about who Dave was porking.
Reminds me of the Paul Newman movie Absence of Malice. Dave is Creepy for sure.

[carolhill814]

The only person I am concerned about is his baby because this will end up hurting him in the long run.

But when it comes to what happened this was before he was married so she doesn't have a right to be upset at all and this happened between adults so that should end the whole entire thing but I think he should not be on air because he did commit a sin but that wouldn't happen.
But I am glad he manned up because that doesn't happen a lot but I am not to sure how the wife is going to react.
Nothing really surprises me at all.

Why do people say they are not guilty when they were caught red handed I just don't get that at all and that is a fact.

[SamTCat]

I'm shocked at all the praise Letterman is getting for being "honest" - the guy was indicted on Friday which would have made the story public whether Letterman said anything Thursday night or not, and if they guy had correspondence in his possession that proved there was an intimate relationship between Letterman and Birkett, then how does beating the press to the punch then become evidence of an honest character?

Letterman and this chick basically lied to all our faces for years, acting like she was just his personal assistant. Did they lie about the true nature of their relationship because Letterman's now-wife thought they were in an exclusive relationship, or was it so employees wouldn't have reason to complain that this chick got all the perks over them? You know who's honest about their quid pro quo relationship is Donald Trump and his wife Melania - somebody asked her if she would still have married Trump if not for his money and her reply was to ask the interviewer whether they thought Trump would have married her if not for her looks. And their courtship was public, although she was never an employee. But at least everybody including them is in on what's really going on there.

Incidentally, I'm pretty sure people don't have grounds to sue their employers under sexual harassment laws if other employees have gotten ahead by trading sexual favors because there'd be a problem showing causation - that but for the sexual relationship, the perks would have been given out to the plaintiff instead.



What

[picklepants7]

this case will never go to trail. too many skeletons in dave's closet, speaking of which, i think he's still in there. i have always believed he was gay. i think halderman has info on dave having affairs with male staffers. did you notice when dave emphized the word "women" when he admitted his horrible deed? personally i have no problem with having sex with staffers, i mean have you seen letterman's wife? she looks like a bag lady. can't say i don't blame the guy.

[taxchurches]

Well, when you consider that Letterman has concrete evidence in exchange for the check, and that the cops were in on the exchange, I must say Mr. Halderman's plea sounds pretty thin.

[rsmik]

The only outrage is that a man tried to blackmail someone for sleeping with his ex-girlfriend. Halderman has succeeded in dragging Birkitt and Letterman through the mud, and destroying his own career. Who cares what Dave did with his employees, if it was all consensual? Someone would have sued him long before this stupid scheme if there was any hint of sexual harassment.

[SamTCat]

Hi Donnie, long time no see :)

[SamTCat]

I'm coming over here to post since I made of mess of the comments section under the other article with my double posts LOL!

Geez, CBS still hasn't gotten themselves reliable legal experts, have they - that article about the 'other shoe dropping' possibly that doesn't allow people to comment makes it sound like people have grounds to sue their employers under sexual harassment laws if other employees have gotten ahead by trading sexual favors. I've never heard of that - is there case law to support such claims?

As for the discussion of the increased likelihood of sexual harassment claims being brought against Letterman - did you mean to say that there's an increased likelihood because Letterman's admission increases the ability of women he's had sex with to be perceived as credible whereas before Letterman's admission the he said/she said testimony would have likely made a claim much less viable? But for that to happen, the women he's had relationship with would have either had to feel sexually harassed or want money. Women who feel sexually harassed usually document the harassment, like in the case of Bill O'Reilly and that producer who taped his conversations. And as for women possibly wanting money, it sounds like Letterman's been pretty generous to the women he's been seeing.

That whole article about the shoe dropping comes across like the rantings of paranoid rich people who tend to date people who are only interested in their money and see everybody as opportunists.

I don't know what kind of women Letterman's been sleeping with at work, but that Stephanie chick seems like she likes much older men kind of like how Monica Lewinksy did, and the other two women he dated from work were his age. And they all seemed like long-term relationships.

I don't see the danger - yes, Letterman had inter-office romances, and he was in a position of power, but to equate that with sexual harassment per se isn't legally accurate.

[susie1949]

you all still don't get it...women go after powerful men..period.

[razor96]

PLEASE DON'T TELL US ABOUT THE AFFAIR WITH BIFF111

THAT WOULD BE TOO MUCH TO DEAR.

[Josey1210]

Letterman should be FIRED! unless CBS is willing to send a message to all other bosses with AUTHORITY over jobs: always expect underlings to submit to ALL your requests.

[Kaizer_Soze]

$6000. per month!! For a fraction of that, you can make someone disappear off the face of the Earth.

[oeilsevere]

hehehehe
Why in the WORLD are Americans so obsessed with other people's sex lives, and especially with « a-HA! » stories of audltery...?!! Never ever could fathom that. THAT's really what's creepy, un my opinion.
Now I get the incongruity here, considering an obviously substandard human resources environment.
And I can understand a public bashing of holier-than-though, « family-valuesy », moralistic politicians caught with their knickers down (or unsubtuly scraping airport bathroom floors with their... turgid enthusiasm).
But geez ! With you guys, it seems there's no end to this weird tendency to pry into a public person's bedroom, and then destroy his/her public life if ever they didn't exactly behave like most of your grandparents.
Funny ; the most allegedly puritan nation is also the heaviest producer/consumer of pornography and shows one of the highest divorce rates in the world... lol
LET IT GO, PEOPLE ! Take care of your own bedroom ; that's what's gonna make you finally happy in your own lives, not the icky fantasies your subconscious produces when you think of what famous people do when being adulterous. hahahaha

[sully59]

Why the negative comments about Dave. He is a human being and a VICTIM

[razor96]

'cause he is an ass who has made fun of other folks mistakes nightly for over 20 years.

[LivesToRideHorses]

There was an article in the New York Times this morning that indicated
CBS should investigate Letterman's actions. If I were CBS I would be
more worried that Halderman has done this before, and that there are
other victims of extortion out there. The man obviously had access to
a lot of personal information from various news stories, how many people has he pulled this on?

Lots of people date co-workers. As long as both parties are willing
Letterman did nothing wrong. Instead of focusing on David Letterman
CBS and the news media should be focusing on Halderman. The man is
guilty of a crime, they have it on tape, and he cashed the check, folks. He's the one who did something wrong!!!

[omnibus66]

To all of you who are calling Letterman a pervert or a degenerate or some other inappropriate term.

I would really like you to explain what it is about a mutually consensual heterosexual act that is perverted, degenerative, or otherwise abnormal in its content. What is it that you personally engage in sexually that makes Letterman's conduct "perverted" by comparison?

Please explain. I'm waiting.

[Josey1210]

Just because a boss with AUTHORITY over jobs has sex with underlings - doesn't mean it's truly consensual.

[Swine_Flu_Virus]

andrewgram posted: "This person is deceptive, immoral, unethical, abusive and is not fit for TV"

Andy, Andy -- what are we going to do with you? At various points in their lives, EVERYONE has been "deceptive, immoral, unethical, abusive." Except for you, of course.

As far as being fit for TV, I would think the negative attributes you mention are, in fact, exactly why Dave is fit for TV.

Kind of lonely at times, way up there on Mr. Olympus?

Letterman is not attractive, not funny, not intelligent and not relevant. He's a dopey looking tall guy with glasses and a hair-do that changes with fashion. However, after news of his sordid trysts with female staffers came to light, it seems even the women at CBS are good for nothing.