Real Madrid striker, Karim Benzema is guilty of complicity in attempted sex-tape blackmail of former France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena according to a court in Versailles, France.
Hence, the court has sentenced the 33-year-old France international to a one-year suspended jail term. The court also fined Karim Benzema 75,000 euros.
The attempted sex tape blackmail scandal started in June 2015 when Mathieu Valbuena decided to move the files on his old phone to a new phone.
The former France international decided to give the phone to one Axel Angot in Marseille to help carry out the process. It was at the point of uploading the files that Angot discovered that Valbuena had his sex tape on the phone.
Angot allegedly conspired with one Mustapha Zouaoui to extort money from the French footballer by threatening to make the sex tape public.
During the heat of the saga, Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena met at a France national team camp in October 2015. Benzema who had heard about the scandal decided to approach Valbuena over it.
In the process of trying to help his teammate, Benzema offered to link Valbuena up with his childhood friend, Karim Zenati who could help them get rid of the video.
In the midst of that, Valbuena decided to report the case to the police. The police in turn arranged for an undercover negotiator named Luka. Through that, the police confirmed that the footballer was a victim of blackmail.
The police also confirmed that Benzema was involved in the syndicate because of a tapped phone conversation the Real Madrid star had with Zenati. In the conversation, Benzema reportedly told his childhood friend: “He [Valbuena] is not taking us seriously.”
The scandal got so messy that it forced Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena out of France’s national team. Unfortunately for Valbuena, he could not find his way back to the national team until he retired from football.
Fortunately for Benzema, he was re-invited back to the national team ahead of Euro 2020. He played in the tournament and subsequent international games involving the national team.
During the hearing of the case in a court in Versailles, Benzema who has always insisted that he did not do anything wrong in the sex tape scandal did not make an appearance in the court.
He ensured that the court case did not distract him from his job at Real Madrid as he has scored 14 goals and provided 8 assists in 16 games for the Spanish giants this season.
After the verdict from the court in Versailles, Karim Benzema’s lawyer, Antoine Vey told reporters that the Real Madrid star would appeal the judgment.
“This outcome in no way corresponds with the reality of events,” the lawyer said.
At the time of publishing this report, the footballer’s lawyer has not announced when he intends to file an appeal against the judgment and the footballer has not made an official statement concerning the judgment.
Back to the UCL ☄️ pic.twitter.com/6af9P39l5P
— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) November 23, 2021
