French Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was placed under formal judicial investigation on Thursday in connection with an alleged attempt to blackmail fellow-France soccer international Mathieu Valbuena with the use of a sex video.
A statement from the Versailles Prosecutors Office said the alleged crimes for which he was being investigated could carry a prison sentence of at least five years.
“Real Madrid’s French striker has been charged with “involvement in an attempt to blackmail and participating with ‘wrongdoers’ to commit a crime which carries a minimum five-year prison sentence”, according to the statement.
Benzema has left the Versailles court he was transferred to at around 09:00 this morning from the police station where he spent the previous 24 hours being interrogated about the case.
The Real Madrid man left court in a black Mercedes at around 13:15 local time (12:15 GMT).
The judge also ordered the player to not have any contact with Valbuena “or the other accused”.
Benzema is now the fourth person to be charged in the case after three others thought to be the alleged blackmailers were charged on 17th October. The three remain in custody,
The fifth person to be charged could be one of the Real Madrid player’s relatives, who allegedly acted as a middleman between the alleged blackmailers and Benzema, who in turn mentioned the matter to Valbuena.
His lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, told reporters after a hearing that Benzema was innocent and took no part in any blackmail or attempted blackmail.
The prosecutor’s move, which in France’s justice system does not confirm any wrongdoing but does mean investigators have serious grounds for pursuing the matter with him, exposes Benzema to a lengthy period of doubt ahead of a European nations soccer contest that France hosts next year.
The imbroglio is not Benzema’s first brush with justice.
He and Bayern Munich forwards Franck Ribery were acquitted by a court in January 2014 of charges that they solicited the services of an underage prostitute, the now fashion model Zahia Dehar, when she was aged 16 and 17.
A fan of ultra-fast road cars, Benzema was also banned from driving for eight months in 2013 and fined 18,000 euros after he was clocked at almost twice the speed limit in Spain.
