Forbes Extortion Figure Pleads Guilty: George Warnock...

Forbes Extortion Figure Pleads Guilty: George Warnock of the Bronx, N.Y., has pleaded guilty to trying to extort money from the late Malcolm Forbes by threatening to damage the wealthy publisher’s reputation, federal prosecutors said. Warnock, 25, who describes himself as a weightlifter, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion and faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 14. Court papers did not detail the nature of the alleged extortion. Nancy Northrup, assistant U.S. attorney, said if the case had gone to trial, she would have called a witness from the Forbes organization to testify that Warnock wrote to the publisher in August, 1989, demanding $30,000 to withhold information Warnock claimed was potentially damaging.