French and Real Madrid Striker Kareem Benzema is facing a 365 day suspension from soccer after Benzema allegedly blackmailed his teammate Mathieu Valbuena, saying that he would release a sex tape to the public. This was in attempt to to extort money from his fellow teammate, which now lead to this case. The soccer star has been fined a total of $75,000 Euro and is one of 5 people who were put on trail for trying to extort Valbuena. The case dates back to June of 2015 where Benzema was excused from playing in international play in the 2016 euro games by the French Football Federation. At a training camp in 2015 Benzema was accused of putting countless amounts of pressure on his teammate to pay off the blackmailers who he had conspired with to act as an intermediary, prosecutors said. Since 2015 Benzema has always denied the allegations, even going on to say that he was “only trying to help Valbuena get rid of the scandalous x-rated video. Four of Benzema’s co-defendants in the trial were also found guilty on Wednesday. They were handed jail sentences ranging from 18 months suspended to two-and-a-half years in prison. Benzema’s Lawyers stated that they will appeal in a higher court for this conviction. When delivering the verdict, the judge said Benzema had “implicated himself personally, through subterfuge and lies, to convince his teammate to submit to the blackmail”. In 2020 he made his international comeback with the French national team who said that a guilty verdict would not impact his play and that he would continue with his international duties. Since being called back by France manager Didier Deschamps said that Benzema has been in prolific form, scoring nine times in 13 games for his country. He’s also scored 10 goals this season for his club, Real Madrid, who are yet to comment on the verdict. For his performances on the pitch, Benzema was named a candidate for the Ballon d’Or footballer of the year award which will be announced next week.
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