Vivek Shah, 25, of West Hollywood, was scheduled to appear before US district judge Irene Berger in Beckley, West Virginia, according to the Associated Press. No further details on the hearing were available at press time.
He is charged with threatening to kill the Foresight Reserve executive’s relatives if he did not pay the sum.
In addition to Cline, Shah targeted four other wealthy individuals, though the specific identities of the other victims are so far not clear.
However, West Virginia newspaper the Charleston Gazette reported that some others receiving threatening letters in the scam were film producer Harvey Weinstein; Playtone owner Gary Goetzman; Relativity Media founder Ryan Kavanaugh; oil heiress Dannine Avara; Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky; and East Resources founder and Buffalo Sabres hockey team owner Terry Pegula.
Shah is also charged with four counts of interfering with interstate commerce and using interstate commerce to threaten extortion, the AP said.
Judge Berger has issued a gag order in the case and has sealed the filing documents.
According to a report that cited a US postal inspector affidavit, Shah also uses the aliases Ray Amin and Rohan Gill. He was residing in Schaumburg, Illinois, before his arrest in August.
He is now housed in Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia.
According to the filing, his endeavor was ambitious and wide-reaching, including offshore banks in Cyprus, Antigua, Malta and Mauritius, the paper said.
