This story dates back to 2007 when Fabrizio Corona who runs photo agency Coronàs, with dozens of paparazzi under his wing, tried to extort € 10,000 from MotoGP rider Marco Melandri.
Corona telephoned Melandri’s manager Alberto Vergani, who also the president of Nolan Helmets, asking him € 10,000 in order not to publish photos and videos of Melandri together with porno star Brigitta Bulgari during a private party in a discoteque on the eve of the Mugello GP.
Vergani refused to pay up and taped the conversation and when the scandal broke, because the same Corona extorted and attempted to blackmail several big named soccer players and Fiat’s Lapo Elkan with compromising photos, the enitre story came out in all it’s sordidness.
Corona was sentenced to three years and eight months of prison.