CBS Producer Suspended Over Letterman Extortion Attempt

By GossipGirl. Published on 10/02/2009 - 10:52am

Emmy Award-winning CBS News producer Robert "Joe" Halderman, who worked on the news program 48 Hours, was arrested Thursday outside the CBS News broadcast center in New York City on charges of attempted grand larceny in the first degree. Halderman allegedly tried to extort $2 million from David Letterman over sexual affairs he had with female employees.

It is rumored that Halderman dated Letterman's former assistant, Stephanie Birkitt, who is said to be one of the women at the center of the extortion case.

Reps for the network issued a statement:

"CBS was made aware of an ongoing police investigation involving David Letterman and an employee at 48 Hours who was subsequently arrested yesterday on charges of attempted grand larceny in the first degree. CBS is cooperating fully with the authorities and the employee has been suspended pending the results of the investigation. Mr. Letterman addressed the issue during the show's broadcast last night, and we believe his comments speak for themselves."

During his late night show on Thursday, Letterman revealed that three weeks ago he got in his car early in the morning and found a package with a letter saying:

"I know that you do some terrible, terrible things and that I can prove you do some terrible things."

Letterman, 62, told the audience that the letter contained proof. He said he then called his lawyer to arrange a meeting with Halderman, who threatened to write a book and screenplay about Letterman unless given the money. Two meetings occurred and during the last one, a fake check was delivered.

Letterman revealed that he had to testify before a grand jury Thursday morning.

He said:

"I was worried for myself, I was worried for my family. I felt menaced by this, and I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I had done.

The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. My response to that is yes, I have. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Yes, it would, especially for the women."

Tags: