Cindy Crawford - Crawford Extortion Suspect Cannot Be Extradited To U.S.

The main suspect in the CINDY CRAWFORD extortion case will not face the American justice system - because his native Germany does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Edis Kayalar turned himself in to police in Stuttgart, Germany on Monday (16Nov09) after U.S. authorities appealed for international help in tracking him down.

He was charged with attempting to extort $100,000 (£62,500) from Crawford and her husband Randy Gerber last week (12Nov09) after allegedly threatening to leak a controversial photo of the couple's young daughter to the press.

The image was taken by a nanny during a game, and reportedly shows the child, now eight, bound to a chair and wearing revealing clothing.

Gerber paid Kayalar, and acquaintance of the family's former nanny, $1,000 (£625) to keep the picture out of the spotlight, but called in the FBI when the suspect made further demands for cash before he was deported to Germany in September (09).

But U.S. investigators cannot request German authorities send Kayalar across the Atlantic to face the charges as the two governments do not have a formal extradition agreement, according to TMZ.com.

However, Kayalar could still find himself in big trouble with European police - he reportedly requested Gerber transfer money into a German bank account, an action which violates the country's extortion law.