FRENCH FOOTBALLER KARIM BENZEMA FOUND GUILTY IN BLACKMAIL CASE

France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been found guilty of conspiring to blackmail a fellow French footballer with a sex tape. A judge handed Benzema a one-year suspended jail term and ordered him to pay the sum of eighty-four thousand dollars fine. Benzema, 33, was one of five people put on trial last month over an attempt to extort Frenchman Mathieu Valbuena.

The scandal has stunned the football community in France and both players lost their national team places. The case dates back to June 2015, when the two footballers were at a French training camp. Benzema has always denied the allegations and insisted he was only trying to help Valbuena get rid of the compromising video.

Four of Benzema’s co-defendants in the trial were also found guilty on Wednesday. They were handed jail sentences ranging from eighteen months suspended to two-and-a-half years in prison.