It's the "gaining money by threat" part that makes it a plausibly successful charge. What they do is publishing it in a way likely to lead to more publicity, mo

It's the "gaining money by threat" part that makes it a plausibly successful charge. What they do is publishing it in a way likely to lead to more publicity, more harm to reputation unless you pay them. Take the Letterman extortion case. Letterman had a relationship with a staffer. Another staffer threatened to disclose to the press unless Letterman paid him. That staffer was convicted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Halderman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Halderman Disclosing to press/public and harming reputation is not extortion. And harming reputation with true facts is totally legal. You can even go to a (trashy) paper and get paid for your story. Threatening to disclose and/or publicize unless payment is made is extortion. IANAL and building a case is probably more complicated than I understand.