A Tennessee man was indicted for extortion, accused of trying to get $1 million from former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as a condition of keeping his tax returns private.
The indictment again Michael Mancil Brown says he “falsely stated that he had stolen tax documents for Willard M. Romney and Ann D. Romney for tax years prior to 2010,” United Press International reported. He posted on a couple of websites that he had the tax documents and “demanded US$1 million converted to ’Bitcoin’ and instructed that this sum be deposited in a Bitcoin account for which he [would] provide the account number,” the indictment states. If the $1 million was not received, he would publish the tax records, the indictment says.
Mr. Brown, of Franklin, also is accused of sending similar threats to Mr. Romeny’s accountants via letter, to PricewaterhouseCoopers, and to Republican and Democratic officials in Tennessee, NPR reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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