"Sultan of Sleaze" arrested over Tom Cruise photos

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A celebrity porn broker dubbed the "Sultan of Sleaze" has been arrested over accusations he tried to sell film star Tom Cruise stolen photos of his 2006 wedding to actress Katie Holmes, published reports said on Thursday.

David Hans Schmidt, best known for arranging the sale of celebrity sex tapes and nude photos, was taken into custody at an undisclosed location in West Hollywood, an FBI spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters.

The spokeswoman, Laura Eimiller, said she could not discuss the charges against Schmidt, 47, because the case was under seal while further investigation proceeded.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles also declined comment.

But Web site The Smoking Gun (http://www.thesmokinggun.com) reported that Schmidt was accused of trying to sell Cruise a large cache of private photos from his 2006 wedding.

Cruise's attorney, Bert Fields, told The Smoking Gun that Schmidt approached the actor's representatives earlier this year about the photos, which had been stolen, and that they immediately contacted federal authorities.

U.S. Bureau of Prisons records showed that Schmidt was in federal custody in Los Angeles and was being held on $100,000 bond.

One of Hollywood's most bankable stars, Cruise, 45, married Holmes, 28 in Italy last November.