Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Susanne Klatten, Germany's wealthiest woman and heiress to the Quandt family that controls BMW AG, was blackmailed for several million euros, according to her spokesman.

Klatten asked prosecutors in January to investigate a man for fraud and extortion, her spokesman Joerg Appelhans said in an e-mailed statement today that identified the man only as ``Mr. S.'' Bild Zeitung reported earlier that the man was her former lover and sought 40 million euros ($51 million).

The 41-year-old Swiss national threatened to publish photos and videos that an Italian accomplice secretly took when the couple met at a Munich hotel, the newspaper said. Both men were arrested in Austria and her former lover has been extradited to Germany where he's in custody, Bild said.

``Klatten learned that the relationship to Mr. S. had an exclusively criminal background; its goal from the beginning was to defraud and blackmail her,'' Appelhans said. ``She filed her complaint regardless of the distressful consequences in the public.''

Klatten was blackmailed with pictures of meetings of the former couple. The crimes started a year ago after her former lover requested a loan for several million euros and then tried to blackmail her for ``a substantially higher sum,'' according to Appelhans.

Klatten has a fortune valued at 7.8 billion euros and is married with three children, Bild reported.

To contact the reporter on this story: Karin Matussek in Berlin at kmatussek@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2008 09:16 EST