LOS ANGELES - Local authorities have arrested David Hans Schmidt for his alleged role in a wedding picture scheme to extort money from actor Tom Cruise. According to a report by the Smoking Gun, Schmidt is currently being held at the federal detention center in L.A. for allegedly trying to sell Cruise a large cache of private photos from the actor's November 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.
Schmidt, who has been called the 'Sultan of Smut,' has a decade-long history of obtaining racy photographs and videos of celebrities. Schmidt's porn brokerage has involved everyone from Jamie Foxx, Fred Durst and Tony Harding to Dustin "Screech" Diamond and reality TV contestant Jennifer "Toastee" Toof.
Schmidt often contacts celebrities before trying to sell the material, to see if they want to purchase it back.
According to the Smoking Gun, just before his arrest, Schmidt was acting as the agent for baseball star Barry Bond's ex-girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, who will appear nude in the November issue of Playboy.
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