Benzema arrested in sextape blackmail probe

FRENCH footballer Karim Benzema was arrested on Wednesday after being accused of blackmail
related to a sextape featuring fellow player Mathieu Valbuena, a source close to the probe told AFP.

The Real Madrid and French star arrived at the police station in Versailles, near Paris, early on Wednesday and was placed in detention, the local prosecutor confirmed, without giving further information.
Investigators are trying determine the extent to which Benzema was aware of the intimate video featuring Valbuena, which found its way into the hands of blackmailers.
According to the source, Benzema mentioned the sextape to Valbuena during a meeting of the French team in early October.

Mathieu Valbuena (L) and Karim Benzema at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Source: AFP

It is thought one of Benzema’s relatives was contacted by the suspected blackmailers with a view to involving the footballer in their scheme, the source said.

Police are seeking to determine whether he was teasing Valbuena when he mentioned the tape, or trying to make him pay the blackmailers.
Former France international Djibril Cisse was recently questioned by French police over the blackmail plot following a raid on his Paris home. He was released by police on October 13.
In July, a judicial investigation was opened into claims that Lyon midfielder Valbuena was the target of an extortion scheme.
The three suspected blackmailers, who are friends with several footballers, were charged and placed in detention in October.
In October a prosecutor said of Cisse’s arrest: “Djibril Cisse was taken into custody … in connection with a judicial investigation opened in the district court of Versailles on July 31 2015.”

Djibril Cisse denies any involvement in the blackmail scam. Source: AP

The statement added that it was “an offence punishable by at least five years in prison.”
French newspaper Le Parisien said Benzema’s name appeared “peripherally” in wiretaps conducted as part of the probe.
The paper also said the video was on an old mobile phone of Valbuena’s and the plan was to try and extort 150,000 euros from him.
It is claimed Valbuena was asked for money in return for the tape not being published.
Cisse has denied any involvement in extorting money.
“I have nothing to do with it, Mathieu is a friend of mine,” Cisse said in an interview on French chat show Touche pas a mon poste.
“I just warned him that there was something hot going on involving him. That’s it. End of story.
“Frankly, it’s not funny. It’s something that could have been very bad for me and for him.”

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