Extortion in the NYTimes:
This piece uses the term "grand larceny"... (more than $250 can be considered grand larceny). A form of theft, whether information or ideas (a patent, classified information, trade secret, etc), intellectual property (i.e., a song, an unpublished book, etc) , services, labor, etc.
... Mr. Letterman said that three weeks ago, he received a package from a person who claimed to have information about the relationships. Mr. Letterman said he reached out to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. In the course of the investigation, Mr. Letterman was asked to write what he called a fake check for $2 million. The suspect in the case was arrested Thursday.
Nataly Holder, writing for the Huffington Post:
Apparently, Letterman chose to come clean about the affairs with multiple staffers because a producer from another CBS television show, 48 Hours, threatened to publicize his exploits if he was not paid $2 million. Somehow, this producer--who works on a show that covers stories with legal angles--didn't realize that his sleazy attempt to extort money from Letterman went way beyond employee misconduct but would be frowned upon as illegal by the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
By the way: The producer charged (Robert Joe Halderman, who took a phony $2 million check) pleaded not guilty.
