Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, fresh off the back of leading his club to yet another Champions League title, now finds himself in legally shark-infested waters. The Frenchman has dropped an appeal against a one-year suspended sentence for complicity in a bid to blackmail former international teammate Mathieu Valbuena with a sex tape, his lawyer said on May 4.
Last November, Benzema was found guilty in the sex tape extortion scandal surrounding former France midfielder Valbuena. He was handed a one-year suspended jail sentence and been fined 75,000 euros for his involvement in a scandal.
The Versailles court found that Benzema was, in fact, guilty of complicity and attempted blackmail against Valbuena over a contentious video thought to have been stolen from the latter’s mobile phone.
Back then, Benzema’s legal representative had added that the Real Madrid forward would immediately appeal against the sentence and even went on to term the judgement “unfair and based on no proof”. The Los Blancos forward, who has persistently denied any wrongdoing, had been absent from the court in Versailles due to sporting commitments, but his lawyers said he would be present if a second trial took place on appeal.
Despite his initial stance, the 34-year-old is finally said to have dropped his appeal, his lawyer Hugues Vigier told AFP, confirming a report on the Actu78 website.
The withdrawal of the order will be communicated by the Versailles court of appeal to the concerned parties on Tuesday. His representative had previously revealed to French publication L’Equipe that the only reason Benzema decided to withdraw the appeal was because the entire saga has exhausted him mentally.
“This withdrawal endorses a ruling of condemnation and apparently of guilt. It is a judicial truth. But it is not reality,”
he said.
Benzema was one of five people who were put on trial in October 2021 surrounding the extortion attempts against Valbuena, who currently plays for Greek side Olympiacos. Benzema has not been accused of extortion attempts but encouraging Valbuena to deal with the blackmailers and to pay them. He is said to have conspired with the suspected blackmailers by putting pressure on his former teammate to pay them off.
One intermediary was a childhood friend of Benzema’s. The striker’s lawyer denied in court that he was complicit in blackmail, saying he had intervened only to try to help his teammate find a solution, not to blackmail him.
The scandal rocked the French football ecosystem in 2015 and led to increased scrutiny over the French national team. The shadow has remained with the national team ever since and Benzema remained in exile from Les Bleus’ squad for five and a half years until returning to the fold in Euro 2020.
The 34-year-old forward was going to appeal the motion on June 30-July 1 at the court in Versailles, outside Paris. His former legal representative, Antoine Vey, had said that Benzema would explain himself and share details in person at the appeal trial.
In its November judgment, the Versailles criminal court had ruled that Benzema had “implicated himself personally, through subterfuge and lies, to convince his teammate to submit to the blackmail“. It added he had shown “no kindness towards Valbuena“, as he had claimed, but “just the opposite” and had even appeared to take pleasure in his fellow player’s plight.
News of Benzema dropping the appeal comes just hours after he scored a wonderful goal as France began their UEFA Nations League 2022-23 campaign with a 2-1 loss against Denmark. He has been one of the best players in the world over the past year and led Real Madrid to their 14th Champions League title against Liverpool last week.
