Last night TV host David Letterman’s opening monologue took an unforeseen turn. Viewers tuned in to hear Letterman make usual cracks at current celebrities and politicians in the news, but instead learned something about the 62-year-old host they’d never expect.

Letterman, who is married to longtime love Regina Lasko, admitted to the audience that he’s had various sexual affairs with a number of female coworkers over the years working at The Tonight Show. Not only was his infidelity to his wife – and mother of his child – shocking and disappointing to the millions of viewers watching the show, he soon revealed another scandalous aspect to the story: blackmail.

Until the known suspect was arrested, Letterman had been the victim of an on-going extortion plot by CBS’s 48 Hours employee Robert J. Halderman. For a few weeks, the suspected Halderman threatened to publish a book and screenplay about Letterman’s office affairs if he didn’t pay him a specified amount of money. Halderman is accused of trying to extort $2 million from Letterman, who issued a fake check during the investigation which ultimately got Halderman caught.

Letterman stood before the grand jury issuing his story and Halderman was eventually arrested shortly after.

Extortion is a criminal offense which occurs when a person acquires money or property from an individual through coercion or blackmail. Other relating white collar crimes include fraud, bribery, counterfeiting, embezzlement, forgery and larceny. Penalties for such crimes vary from fines to a prison sentence or both. Criminal laws sanction maximum penalties, but most defendants receive less than the maximum sentence issued by the judge.

If you want to learn more about white collar crimes, visit the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Service’s website . To better understand the laws pertaining to white collar crimes, also visit the New York Penal Law website.