NEW YORK — A former television producer pressured by debt and riven by jealousy admitted Tuesday he tried to extract vengeance and money by shaking down David Letterman in a case that bared the late-night icon’s affairs with staffers.
Robert Halderman, 52, pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny, acknowledging he tried to chisel $2 million from the late-night icon. He threatened to destroy Letterman’s reputation by airing his workplace dalliances — using information authorities have said Halderman mined from a former girlfriend’s diary.
The plea deal by Halderman, a producer for CBS’ “48 Hours Mystery” at the time, spares him a potential 15 years in prison had he been convicted. The 52-year-old is due instead to get a six-month jail sentence and 1,000 hours of community service.
It also spares Letterman the prospect of a trial that could have put his private life on display, though the comedian masterfully defused much of Halderman’s potential bombshell last fall by revealing himself that he had slept with women on his staff.
Halderman apologized to the host of the “Late Show,” also on CBS, as he spelled out the details of his crime in a Manhattan court, reading a prepared statement at first so quickly that the judge asked him to slow down.
“I attempted to extort $2 million from David Letterman by threatening to disclose personal and private information about him, whether true or false,” he said.
Halderman acknowledged delivering the threat to Letterman’s driver, in the form of a screenplay outline, or “treatment.”
“This so-called treatment was just a thinly veiled threat to ruin Mr. Letterman if he did not pay me a lot of money,” Halderman said. He subsequently met with Letterman’s lawyer, who eventually gave him a phony $2 million check.
“I knew throughout this time that I was not engaged in a legitimate business transaction with Mr. Letterman and that what I was doing was against New York law,” Halderman said.
“I feel great remorse for what I have done,” Halderman said, apologizing to Letterman, the comic’s family, and his own former girlfriend, Stephanie Birkitt.
“He was both jealous and enraged” and under financial pressure, his attorney Gerald Shargel said later Tuesday.
Outside court, Halderman repeated his apologies, declined any interviews and said no more. He remains free on bail until his sentencing, set for May 4.
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