Karim Benzema was sentenced to one year in suspended prison
The soccer player was found guilty in the "Valbuena case," which involves extortion and a sex tape of his partner.
To a sentence of 1 year in suspended prison and a fine of 75,000 euros, which is equivalent to 84,000 dollars, the forward of France and Real Madrid, Karim Benzema, was sentenced.
The athlete, in addition to paying the fine, must also pay his old partner in Les Bleus 6 years ago, 80,000 euros for the damages caused.
Case details
The accusation that Karim Benezema receives is for an alleged complicity and an extortion attempt, for a sex video of Valbuena, which until now is believed to have been stolen from his same cell phone.
All this scandal was unleashed in 2015, when the French Mathieu Valbuena announced that he was being blackmailed with a large amount of money so that his sex video did not come out into the public eye.
Four more people are involved in the case, as the head of everything is indicated Mustapha Zouaoui, who the court sentenced two and a half years in prison, as well as Axel Angot who had the video, and the blackmailers Younes Houass and Karim Zenati to 18 and 15 months in prison.
It is worth mentioning that Zenati is considered a close friend of the footballer, and that his sentence together with Angot's can still be adjusted.
Valbuena statements
According to the plaintiff, Benzema spoke with him about the recording of the video, telling him: "there is a video, it is hot" in addition to commenting that he had a friend who could help him with his problems.
He clarified that the Madrid player never spoke to him about money, however he clearly understood that he would have to pay for the supposed help he could receive. Because of everything that happened, the police chose to intercept his phone.
And one of the recorded calls that most caught the attention of the police was the one in which Karim claimed that he had given Valbuena his word that there were no copies of the video.
With this ruling, Mathieu's lawyer, Didier Domat implied that these statements were an improvement for his client, since they would recognize him once and for all as a victim in the case.
Well, his client has suffered many prejudices in the sports field, so much so that since what happened he retired from football.
Benzema's stance
To all that the forward has been accused of, he only declared that he has not committed any crime, however the police evidence and Valvuena's statements do not indicate the same.
In addition to not having been present at the last trial and absent from the reading of the verdict does not favor him.
However, one of his lawyers, Antoine Vey, said: "Benzema will come to explain himself before the appeals court", in addition to clarifying that his client was absent only for professional reasons.
For his lawyer, the sentence he has received is unfounded, and he even hinted that the verdict of the same was influenced by the fact that the professional player was not present.