Tom Cruise Extortion Plot

JULY 26--The Arizona man who has been dubbed the "Sultan of Sleaze" for his role in the distribution of celebrity sex tapes was arrested this week for his alleged role in an extortion plot targeting Tom Cruise

David Hans Schmidt, 47, was nabbed Tuesday by FBI agents and is currently being held at the federal detention center in L.A.. He allegedly tried to sell Cruise a large cache of private photos from the actor's November 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes. Schmidt sought more than $1 million for the wedding photos, which were stolen from the actor, said Bert Fields, a Cruise lawyer.

Schmidt, who has been involved in personal bankruptcy actions for most of the past two years, often contacts celebrities like Paris Hilton and Colin Farrell in advance of trying to publicly peddle private photos or videos to see if they want to purchase back their explicit material.