LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators interviewed Mel Gibson on Sunday about allegations that his former girlfriend tried to extort him by threatening to make public her allegations of domestic abuse and the much-publicized audio recordings.

Mr. Gibson, who is under investigation for alleged domestic violence and child endangerment in connection with an incident earlier this year, spoke only to the detectives about the extortion allegations against Oksana Grigorieva, his former girlfriend with whom he had a child.

"He wanted to make formal complaint for the allegations for extortion and provide information to the detectives," said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore. "Detectives will investigate this wherever it leads."

Mr. Gibson's lawyers last week met with sheriff's investigators and presented evidence they said supported the extortion claim.

They also revealed that Ms. Grigorieva sought a multimillion-dollar payout as the couple split, according to law enforcement sources.

Ms. Grigorieva last Friday angrily told reporters Mr. Gibson was lying about the extortion allegation. "Because Mel is lying. He is lying. There is no extortion. There's is no texts and no e-mails. ... I am fighting for my child. He's just a liar, and it will come in the court, just wait."

She denied that her family had leaked recordings to Radar Online in which a voice purportedly that of Mr. Gibson hurls profanities and threats at her.

Sheriff's investigators pursuing the domestic violence probe are focusing on witnesses, medical records and text and e-mail messages to check the veracity of Ms. Grigorieva's allegations that Mr. Gibson struck her earlier this year and endangered their child, Lucia, said two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Mackenzie Carpenter's video program, "Omnivore," is available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.