NEW YORK — Robert "Joe" Halderman, the man accused of trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman, is seeking to have his case dismissed on the grounds that he was only trying to sell the late-night host a screenplay.

"There was no extortion. There was a screenplay for sale," Halderman's attorney, Gerald Shargel, told reporters outside court Tuesday. "This was a commercial transaction. Nothing more."

Shargel's comments came after he asked a judge to toss the attempted first-degree grand larceny case against the former 48 Hours producer. The next hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Jan. 19.

LOS ANGELES — A jealous boyfriend led to a plot for revenge against David Letterman, according to new details in the "Late Show" host's extortion scandal.

Sources tell the New York Post that Letterman's ongoing affair with Stephanie Birkitt led to her live-in boyfriend, "48 Hours" producer Robert "Joe" Halderman, seeking to get even with the TV star. Birkitt, a former "Late Show" staff member, allegedly kept a diary that contained details of her ongoing sexual relationship with Letterman, which Halderman first read in December.

LOS ANGELES — The attorney for the "48 Hours" producer accused of trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman is anxious to go head-to-head with the "Late Show" host.

"I look forward to cross-examining David Letterman," Gerald Shargel, the lawyer for Robert "Joe" Halderman, told Ann Curry during an interview on Monday's "Today Show." "If you only hear David Letterman's side of the story, take it at face value and say, 'Turn off the sets, that Halderman's guilty' — I think that's plain wrong."