A grieving John Travolta reacted with outrage and horror to a $25 million blackmail demand over the devastating loss of his beloved son Jett – and The ENQUIRER has exclusively obtained police documents detailing the shocking plot.
An ambulance driver allegedly threatened to release information blaming the superstar for his son’s death. With John and wife Kelly in mourning just two weeks after the teen’s tragic demise, the actor secretly faced off with Bahamian EMT Tarino Lightbourne.
"I believe Tarino Lightbourne threatened to defame my character y releasing information…that he contended would evidence that I was culpable in the death of my son Jett," Travolta told police in the official sworn statement that has never been disclosed until now.
The never-before-revealed police documents obtained by The ENQUIRER detail the secret negotiations between Travolta’s attorney and the alleged extortionist – all of it caught on tape with a hidden microphone.
Lightbourne, 47, helped in the desperate fight to save the unconscious Jett after the 16-year-old collapsed at the family’s vacation home in the Bahamas on Jan. 2. He died after being rushed to the hospital.
Days later, say police, Lightbourne threatened that if Travolta didn’t pay him $25 million, he would release a document signed by the actor in the heat of the life-or-death drama.
In a statement made to the Royal Bahamian Police in Nassau on Feb. 25, Travolta stated: "On or about Jan. 16, 2009, I was told… the demand was for $25 million. I did not authorize anyone to give him $25 million."
Instead, said Travolta, he immediately authorized his attorneys to alert the Bahamian police.
The ENQUIRER has exclusively learned that Travolta’s lawyer, Michael McDermott, was wired by cops with a hidden microphone. Video cameras were secretly installed in room 328 of the Sheraton hotel in Nassau before his meeting with Lightbourne on Jan. 20.
According to an official police transcript of the negotiations between McDermott and Lightbourne, obtained exclusively by The ENQUIRER, McDermott told the extortionist: "You’re a Bahamian Robin Hood, man."
Lightbourne quickly reduced his demand to $20 million, then $15 million – but turned down the attorney’s counter offers of $10 million or a deal to buy Travolta’s Bahamas property cheap.
McDermott: "You know what we’re both doing here is a criminal offense?
Lightbourne: "Yes."
For the FULL STORY with official documents detailing the police sting of the Travolta blackmailers pick up the newest ENQUIRER – on sale now.
