TV producer pleads guilty in attempted blackmail that led Letterman to admit affairs

Producer admits to attempted Letterman shakedown

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 “Joe” 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.

The case at first dealt a blow to Letterman’s nice-guy image; even he described his office affairs as “creepy” as he stunned viewers with an Oct. 1 monologue that disclosed the liaisons and the blackmail plot.

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.

“I feel great remorse for what I have done.”

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, dressed in a gray suit. 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, adding that he realized he had violated the privacy of Letterman and his family.

“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.

CBS News said Halderman was no longer an employee but declined to give any specifics on whether he had quit or been fired.

Through his lawyers, Letterman thanked Manhattan prosecutors for pursuing the case.

“When they became involved in this case, I had complete faith that a just and appropriate result was inevitable,” he said in a statement they read outside court.

The wrap-up of the case came more than four months after Letterman’s announcement on his show, stunning viewers and impressing critics, who called his alternately folksy and frank speech a masterful move to seize control of the story.

While he couldn’t entirely keep it in his grasp — the fallout included an online Vanity Fair article in the fall by a writer who claimed sexual favoritism drove her to quit Letterman’s show in 1990 — viewers have more than stuck with him. His show averages 4.14 million viewers today, up 6 percent from 3.91 million a year ago.

But now, after beating rival Conan O’Brien on NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Letterman is again facing Jay Leno, who returned to host “Tonight” last week after nine months’ absence. In past years, Leno consistently beat Letterman in the ratings.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. noted that Letterman had come to authorities knowing the case could push his private life into public view.

“Mr. Letterman is a public figure, but like all New Yorkers, he has a right to a certain degree of privacy in his public life,” said Vance, who took over the case from predecessor Robert Morgenthau in January.

Halderman’s lawyer, who had raised free-speech and other issues in his attempt to portray the producer’s behavior as a business deal, said Halderman ultimately decided he needed to end the case.

“We had a novel defense here involving complicated legal issues. I was very excited about the defense,” said the lawyer, Gerald Shargel. “But there would be a long road ahead of us, and considering the risks and the rewards and the need for Joe to put this behind him and get on with his life, those needs were paramount.”

Letterman married longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko last year. They began dating in 1986 and have a 6-year-old son.

(This version CORRECTS spelling of “Late Show” staffer’s name to “Birkitt” instead of “Birkett.”)