French Footballer Karim Benzema Found Guilty In Sex Tape Extortion Case

French Footballer Karim Benzema Found Guilty In Sex Tape Extortion Case

French Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, 33, has been found guilty of conspiring to blackmail fellow footballer Mathieu Valbuena, 37, with a sex tape.

The Lyon-born baller was given a 12-month suspended jail term and ordered to pay a €75,000 (£63,000) fine in court for the crime.

Last month, Benzema was one of the five people put on trial regarding the blackmail scandal. Alongside Benzema, four of the co-defendants were found guilty, with three of them receiving prison sentences.

According to officials, the root of the heinous situation can be traced back to summer 2015 at Valbuena and Benzema’s old training camp. Allegedly, Benzema had pressured Valbuena to pay off the assuming third-party extorters who assumed the role as an anonymous, threatening cold caller.

When the scandal initially broke, both parties were absent from their national team as preliminary charges were filed. Valbuena—who now plays for the Greek club Olympiacos FC—told his manager, Didier Deschamps, that he was not emotionally fit to play. Benzema was banned from the French national team from November 2015, but was recalled for the Euros six months ago despite the ongoing trial.

After the verdict, Benzema’s lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, issued a statement, saying: “It was clearly announced by the court that Karim Benzema was not aware of the prior machinations and then in the end they said that ‘he cannot, not have known,’ without any proof. They have condemned him with a very severe, unjust sentence without proof. I’m quite shocked by this ruling.”

Experts predict that the ruling is unlikely to affect Benzema’s career, as the striker bagged 71 goals in the Champions League for Real Madrid.

Whilst Real Madrid declined to comment, it is known that the sentences of the other four defendants range from suspended jail sentences to two and a half years imprisonment.