Blackmail
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Blackmail means threatening to say something bad about someone unless that person pays some money.
If someone has committed a crime, another person might blackmail them. The blackmailer might, for example, say that if the criminal does not give them a large amount of money they will tell the police.
A blackmailer may threaten to say something embarrassing about someone unless they hand over a sum of money. It may be something about a sexual relation they are having that they do not want everyone to know about.
Sometimes a business may blackmail another business. They might threaten to harm that business in some way unless money is paid.
Blackmail is clearly very nasty, and in most cases illegal (against the law).
See also: bribery
