Oprah Winfrey's Extortion Nightmare

Oprah Winfrey, who is considered the most powerful and influential woman in the United States, is allegedly being extorted for 1.5 million dollars. Keifer Bonvillain, 36, is threatening to release taped phone conversations that he says would be extremely damaging to Ms. Winfrey's reputation.

Keifer Bonvillain has allegedly demanded that one of Oprah Winfrey's representatives pay him the large amount of money. In return, he would turn over 12 hours of recorded telephone conversations he had with one of Oprah Winfrey's employees.

The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, who previously did not disclose the sources of this case, reported Saturday, 1/6/07, that Oprah Winfrey was the target of this major extortion attempt.

On December 15, 2006, Keifer Bonvillain was arrested at an Atlanta Hotel parking lot. He was later released on $20,000 bond. Keifer Bonvillain met Oprah Winfrey's employee at a part two years ago. The federal complaint states that Bonvillain grilled Oprah Winfrey's employee about Oprah and her business over a several week period. Sometime in October, Mr. Bonvillain sent an email to Oprah Winfrey reporting this employee had been talking badly about her. The complaint does not say what the employee said to Bonvillain. One of Oprah Winfrey's attornies wrote to Keifer Bonvillain warning him that information taped was false.

The employee from California admitted to talking to Bonvillain. The employee admits to answering questions about Oprah Winfrey and the company. "At no time during any of these telephone conversations did I give Mr. Bonvillain permission to tape record our discussions; neither did Mr. Bonvillain inform me that he was recording our conversations", stated the employee.

In November, Keifer Bonvillain allegedly sent a letter to Oprah Winfrey informing her that he had tapes of the conversations he had with her employee. When one of Oprah Winfrey's representatives returned Keifer Bonvillain's phone call, he told the representative he had 12 hours of taped discussions.

Through the beginning of December, Keifer Bonvillain told Oprah Winfrey's representative he was going to publish a book based on the "shocking" information on the tapes. Bonvillain alleges he had received offers of $500,000 to $3 million from book publishers and tabloid magazines. Keifer Bonvillain allegedly said, "...there are a lot of people who would want these tapes and those people would not be concerned about the truth."

The one Oprah Winfrey representative he was talking to agreed to the $1.5 million demand and wired Bonvillain $3,000 and arranged to meet him in the hotel's parking lot. He told the representative to bring pliers or a magnet to destroy the tapes in exchange for the money. The representative was secretly in contact with the FBI so Bonvillain was arrested the following day.

Kent Carlson, Bonvillain's attorney, told the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times that he would not confirm or deny the complaint. Bonvillain, and Carlson, who he hired to negotiate the turning over of the tapes, had been recorded by the government.

On Saturday, January 6, 2007, the Associated Press placed a call to a Bonvillain in Atlanta but they only received a recorded message saying the line had been disconnected. Bonvillain told the Chicago Sun-Times that it was all a misunderstanding. "There is nothing to it. It's nothing. I was a big mix-up", claims Bonvillian.

Phone messages were left for Harpo Productions on Saturday and the U.S. attorney's office. Associated Press says calls were not immediately returned on Saturday, as Oprah is in South Africa. Bonvillain is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on Monday.

Oprah Winfrey is well-known for making her employees sign lifelong confidentiality agreements declaring to never give out details about her.

Keifer Bonvillain also was named in a separate legal case in New Jersey recently. Court records state Bonvillain was a hired consultant by one of the case parties. He was involved with tape recording conversations while probing claims were tied to an insurance dispute.

Oprah WInfrey is currently in South Africa at her new Leadership Academy for Girls. Yesterday while all of this scandal surrounding her was breaking here in the United States, Oprah was taking an HIV test to encourage the students of her new school and their families to do the same.

"To be a great leader you must be of sound mind, body, and spirit," Winfrey said. "Part of leadership is having the courage to demonstrate true action. Today I have taken the test to demonstrate why it's so important."