Who's trying to extort me?

Someone is unhappy with my Hales coverage.

Part of an email sent by Musa Ekremi, likely a dummy account, sent to me at 7:57 CT on February 15, 2025.

I believe it isn’t a great day unless I face an extortion threat.

So, today, February 16, 2025, is a great day. Technically, the extortion threat was written yesterday, but I didn’t see it until this morning.

The extortion threat came at 7:57 PM CT, according to Gmail. It came from the email account of Musa Ekremi {ekremimusa@gmail.com}- someone probably made up- and it threatened me with release of records from my “systems” unless I stopped covering the Hales case. The threat is below.

Hi Michael, I want to ask you 1 questions, {sic} what do you know about the case Lienette Preston and John Cook and Jeremy Hales???

I can tell you this, you don't know anything about this case, also your fake friend Bruce and the 2 Lee's don't know the whole case, and this is why Bruce knows he is losing this case.

It's better for you to move on with your life and do other stuff, leave this case over to the court's {sic} and Judges, this is no case for you.

Ho yes, apologize to The {sic} good Lawyer R.Shochet and his office, you did something verry wrong and you know it.

We hacked your systems and we have all the proof we need.

I give you 1 chance, better take it, if not????

It's for you to ask and for me to know, maby {sic} fishing or smoke a cigarette, how knows.

I am a {sic} investigator, I worked for the UN for 20 years, again stay out off this case.

I wish you all the best.

Greetings Musa

I get far less extortion threats than cease and desist letters- which also make for a great day- but I have received extortion threats before. Check out the audio below.

“If you keep f^&king around with that Cielak story, you’re gonna find out you’re gonna be in trouble,” the unidentified voice stated in a voicemail.

So, “Musa” may have thought she {or maybe he} was intimidating me, but I felt a little like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction.

“I hate to shatter your ego, but this is not the first time I've had a gun pointed at me.” Jules played by Samuel L. Jackson said to Pumpkin played by Tim Roth.

Musa, I hate to shatter your ego, but this is not the first time I’ve been threatened or extorted and by people much more dangerous than you.

Is the email extortion?

To answer that we start with the legal lesson given by the wonderful federal magistrate Zach Bolitho.

“The good lawyer” Randall Shochet did not understand the elements of extortion when he filed a lawsuit against Michelle Preston and John Cook, which is why Magistrate Bolitho threw those counts out.

Judge Bolitho was quoting Florida statute, but since this was sent electronically, this case would likely be federal. The federal extortion statute is as follows.

Extortion refers to imposing an action or obtaining something by force or coercion. The crime of extortion does exclude legitimate negotiation methods. One example could be a party negotiating a deal with a contractor; neither party could make a threat towards one another in exchange for something in the contract. A legitimate negotiation tactic might include the idea of “ puffing ” (which is making something look reasonably more good than it might otherwise be) Under the color of office, a public or private authority may abuse their authority to commit extortion.

This email met the elements. First, there was the threat, “We hacked your systems and we have all the proof we need.”

Next, it attempted to gain something using the threat.

“It's better for you to move on with your life and do other stuff, leave this case over to the court's {sic} and Judges, this is no case for you.” The email states, “It's for you to ask and for me to know, maby {sic} fishing or smoke a cigarette, how {sic} knows.”

There may be additional charges for atrocious spelling and grammar.

I have contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

Dave at Miltown’s Best also covered this story.

Post-script

This is the fourth article in the Hales series. Find articles one, two, and three here. Check out the fundraiser to help me create more articles.