Oprah Winfrey was the target of a foiled $1.5 million extortion plot, according to the FBI and other published reports.

While the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court against Keifer Bonvillain, 36, states that he had approached "a public figure and the owner of a Chicago-based company" and threatened to release potentially damaging recorded phone conversations about the person, the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, citing unidentified sources, name Winfrey as his intended victim, the Associated Press reports.

Bonvillain, who is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Chicago on Monday, was arrested in Atlanta on Dec. 15, the day after he met an emissary with the intention of their exchanging money for the tapes, says the Sun-Times. After his arrest, Bonvillain was released on $20,000 bail.

Labels: Oprah Winfrey