In what is possibly the worst extortion attempt in recent sports history, former world champion Amir Khan was being blackmailed over a sex tape that does not even exist.
27-year-old Hamza Din has admitted to attempting to blackmail Khan with a non-existent sex tape that supposedly involved Khan and a woman having sex in a Newcastle, England hotel.
Din tried to use a fake email, under a fake name — Harry Dean — and sent an email to Khan's management a few months back. In that email, Din was asking for as much money as he would get if he were to sell the fake tape to the media. Inside of that email is the following:
"I have a video which may be of interest to you.
"It's a recording of Amir Khan and a girl at a hotel room in Newcastle.
"I will be going to the media with this video unless you can match the fee offered.
"This video is 100% real and if no response is made within the next few days I will be sending the footage."
The problem with Din's elaborate ruse is that the fake email he made linked to his actual email. The blunder led police straight to him at his Middlesbrough home and when Din was brought to court, his own lawyer said that the blackmail attempt was "quite spectacularly inept" as a way to lessen any penalty.
Khan did not appear in court on October 30, but did tell cops in a statement that he wanted the judge presiding over this case to be lenient on Din due to any mental health issues Din may or may not be suffering from.
"My family and I have not been overly affected by what’s going on," the statement read. "I don’t want anyone else to be put in the position I and my family have been put in. But if Hamza does admit to what he did I want the court to take into account Mr Din’s mental health at the time and for him to get treatment rather than a custodial sentence."
Khan is currently healing from surgery on his right hand. He recently revealed had been marred with issues in regards to it for the vast majority of his career. He last fought Canelo Alvarez back in May where Khan lost via 6th round knockout.
