MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

Word is now coming out about David Letterman’s extortionist, Robert “Joe” Halderman and why he thought it would be a good idea to squeeze two million bucks out of the CBS comedian. Quite simply, he’s a wasteful, extravagant, out of control spender with the thrift, frugality, and fiscal responsibility of a spendthrift block of cheese.

As you probably know by now, Halderman, an award-winning producer for CBS’s “48 Hours” who earns close to a quarter million a year, collected embarrassing proof of Letterman’s sexual escapades with female staff working on his show, and then extorted him on the threat of releasing a screenplay about his exploits. The reason he did it – he is deeply in debt.
His ex-wife’s lawyer had this to say about his spending habits, after he complained he was paying too much in alimony:

“Mr. Halderman claims he is struggling financially, but it is difficult to see what, other than mismanagement and extravagant spending, is the reason for this,” Montet’s attorneys said in the court file. “His is a world of golf trips, vacations, increasing 401k assets, comprehensive benefits, security in employment, earnings as an award-winning producer for CBS, and home ownership.”

As someone who earns considerably less than a quarter million and has still managed to stay out of debt, I can safely say that someone who DOES earn that much money, short of catastrophic bad luck (such as being extorted for 2 million dollars, maybe), has no excuse for falling deeply into debt. And the fact that he did makes his extortion attempt seem almost fitting.

Concerning Letterman, I believe he did the correct, honest thing by admitting, on air, his bad deeds. If he’s willing to embarrass himself like that and take the chance of losing his reputation for the sake of honesty, he deserves our respect, at least for that, even though he made serious mistakes in the past. (For those who haven’t seen the confession yet, here it is:)

You see, that’s the thing with extortion. Technically, it’s illegal. However, in order to get caught, the guy you’re extorting has to be honorable enough to be willing to release the information you have about him anyway, or else he’ll never go to anyone to report you precisely because you know as well as he does that he does not want the information released.

So it’s a gamble. If you extort someone who has the guts to let the public know anyway, then you’re screwed. So in order to come out on top of an extortion attempt, you have to extort someone who is just as cowardly as you are.
If Letterman had indeed submitted to the extortion, it would only have made his sins worse. But in the end, he turned around, just a bit, showing some bravery that may have possibly saved his career. By submitting to embarrassment, he likely saved himself a whole lot more.

The most interesting part about this, though, is that Halderman actually pleaded not guilty , despite the fact he was perfectly set up by Letterman and his attorney with a fake two million dollar check and the works. How’s he going to get out of that? By claiming someone extorted him to extort Letterman? I’m really curious.