Why is blackmail illegal?
3rd October 2009
Steve Sailer takes a look at the Letterman imbroglio.
If David Letterman’s lady friend staffer had threatened to sue for sexual harassment, but her lawyer told Letterman’s lawyer that she’d be willing to sign an agreement promising never to say a word about the affair in return for a $2 million settlement, that would be perfectly legal, right? I mean, the law encourages people to threaten to sue their bosses for sexual harassment, right? And the law also encourages the parties to settle out of court, and promises of secrecy in return for money are legally enforceable, right?
What if the blackmailer instead of threatening to write a screenplay about a horndog talkshow host had actually written the screenplay and submitted it to David Letterman as a film to be produced by Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company, and Worldwide Pants could buy up all rights to it for just $2 million. (It probably wouldn’t be that much worse a screenplay than the Strangers with Candy screenplay that Worldwide Pants did produce a few years ago.) I kind of seems like Mr. Halderman got himself arrested for being in a hurry to get paid, for not being suave about his approach.