Fede indicted for extortion, coercion

(ANSA) - Milan, November 6 - Ex-TV news anchor Emilio Fede was indicted Friday on extortion charges.
    The 84-year-old allegedly blackmailed Mediaset executives with fake compromising photos when he was fired after 20 years at the head of TG4 news service.
    Prosecutors say Fede in 2012 mandated his former personal trainer Gaetano Ferri and two women named as Maria Madeo and Michela Faioni to assemble fake photomontages featuring Mediaset executive Mauro Crippa.
    He then allegedly used the photos to obtain a better severance package.
    Fede was also indicted for coercion for allegedly sending Ferri threatening text messages after the latter "dissociated himself from an alleged plot to extort two million euros from (Silvio) Berlusconi in exchange for not publishing compromising photos of Crippa".
    Berlusconi owns Mediaset.
    The first hearing in the trial will be held February 2.