Mel Gibson Extortion Case Is Under Review

After months of waiting, the Los Angeles County District Attorney has finally been presented evidence and will now decide whether Mel Gibson’s estranged baby’s mother, Oksana Grigorieva, will face criminal extortion charges involving the release of his infamous rant recordings. It seems the deciding factor will be whether or not Grigorieva tried to blackmail the actor by threatening him with the tapes releases unless he paid her around $15 million.

“Sheriff’s officials dropped off last part of the Mel investigation today,” D.A. spokeswoman Jane Robison said in a recent interview. “It’s under review.”

While Grigorieva has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, the facts are there. She did indeed sign a child custody settlement in May 2010 that included Gibson giving her child support, a house and joint custody of their 2-year-old daughter, Lucia—on the condition that she not release the tapes. However, just a few months after the ink had barely dried, recordings of what appeared to be an emotionally unstable Gibson terrorizing her surfaced online. Team Mel cried “extortion” and Team Grigorieva cried “after the fact”…and the story has unfolded slowly ever since.

The extortion case is separate from the domestic violence allegations Grigorieva has lodged against Gibson. The D.A. has been reviewing that case since August now, but no charges have been filed.