Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema was sentenced to one year in prison for conspiring to blackmail former teammate Mathieu Valbuena with a sex tape. The 33-year-old French football player was one of five people on trial last month for a fraudulent attempt to blackmail the 37-year-old Valbuena, a scandal that dates back to June 2015.
The case involved Valbuena at the time, who had asked a man in Marseille to upload the contents of his mobile phone to another device.
The man named Axel Angot found pornographic content on Valbuena's phone. According to the BBC report, Angot and his associate Mustapha Zouaoui threatened to make the above-mentioned materials public. However, in a statement to reporters, Zouaoui stated that there was no attempt to blackmail any money.
In court documents, another defendant, Younes Houass, stated that he had only warned players about this issue. Benzema was accused of being the "middleman" in the alleged blackmail scheme.
Benzema defended himself that he only intended to help his teammates deal with sex tapes by providing the services of his childhood friend Karim Zenati. However, according to reports, Benzema put pressure on his teammates by warning his teammates to repay the blackmailers, "Be careful, Mas, they are big and big thugs."
At the beginning of the trial, Valbuena told the court that he had never considered paying extortion money to stop the video from leaking.
At the same time, Benzema denied all allegations and has returned to the French team. Neither Benzema nor Valbuena appeared in court when the sentence was pronounced at the Palace of Versailles.
According to the ruling on the "sex tape case," probation does not require football players to spend a year in jail. But if he commits another crime, it will take effect. Benzema was fined 75,000 euros (84,000 US dollars).
As the French football community tried to understand the case, the scandal has caused two players to lose their positions in the national team.
Benzema is expected to start for Real Madrid on Wednesday night, when they will face Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League. The French Football Association also stated that the guilty verdict will not endanger Benzema's status in the national team in any way.
Lawyers representing Benzema said they will appeal his conviction. However, the court stated that the football player had implicated himself through "trick and lies" when trying to persuade Valbuena to accept blackmail.
On November 21, 2021, at the Nova Los Camenez Stadium in Granada, Spain, Granada Football Club and Real Madrid Football Club La Liga Santander Football Club match, Granada Football Club’s Quinni Fight for the ball with Karim Benzema of Real Madrid Football Club. Photo by Fran San Diego/Getty Images