Preliminary charges of “conspiracy to blackmail and participating in a criminal group” have been filed against Karim in a Versailles court.
He has been freed pending investigation (and has returned to Madrid) but could face a minimum sentence of 5 years in prison if convicted. Already, this has impacted his career. As he isn’t allowed to be in contact with anyone involved in the case, both he and Mathieu Valbuena have been left off the France squad for the upcoming international matches. Granted, he was already injured and would have missed the games but this sort of scandal doesn’t look good for him.
He’s admitted that he knew about the sex tape and was involved to some extent via a childhood friend. From Eurosport:
A source close to the investigation divulged information to AFP. The source said:
” Karim Benzema has recognised that he intervened with Valbuena at the request of a childhood friend approached by three crooks who had a sex tape in their possession. He said that he agreed with a childhood friend about what he would say in order that his team-mate would negotiate exclusively with him. ”
AFP also adds that Benzema said he wanted to help his friend without thinking that he was doing wrong by Valbuena. Benzema is thought to have discussed the matter with Valbuena in October when France met up for matches against Armenia and Denmark.
Keep an eye on the live feed updates from Get French Football News. It’s got all sorts of additional information. And it gets worse…. Rumors are being bandied out that Karim was also involved with the Air Cocaine operation, one of the largest drug trafficking scandals ever in France. One of the suspects, Ali Bouchareb, is supposedly close with Benz. Obviously, that doesn’t make him involved, but he needs to stay completely clear of even a whiff of impropriety if he wants to keep his career. I’m guessing the rumor mill will run rampant at this point and have him associated with everything from “Who shot Annalise Keating?” to the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
As I said to mygypsyspirit this morning, I knew his stupid faux-gangster posturing would come back to bite him in the arse someday.
JFC, Benz.
– Lozil
Of Headbands and Heartbreak
watishistacorrespondents
Just…just…honestly! The idjut.
Yeah, in a nutshell. I wonder how long FloPeezy’s patience is going to hold out?
I have visions of FloPeezy visiting Benzi in jail, bringing him a cake, whisoering, “There’s a celphone for selfies inside.”
>whispering
There was also the underaged prostitute scandal a few years ago. I think Flo should take out his wallet and start shopping for a new striker
Flo should do that regardless, given that we have no real like-for-like replacement for Benz even in the event of an injury (as is clear in our recent performances).
Not to mention his many speeding tickets. He got caught AGAIN, speeding without a license last week. Not sure how long they can continue to turn a blind eye to his idiocy.
I think that is a ridiculous idea. Just because he makes bad choices doesn’t mean he’s not an amazing footballer. The two have nothing to do with the other -for the most part.
RM is a business and a billion dollar plus one at that. Players have been sold (or had their contracts terminated) for less. Image is everything. I, too, think he is a fantastic footballer, but sometimes you have to weigh ability vs. the liability of bad press. There are a lot of amazing footballers out there. We can afford to buy any of them so why would we stick with someone with constant legal problems? I’m not saying that’s going to happen now but you can bet that is something that has been or will be discussed in the very near future. He continually makes bad choices. This isn’t a one off. This may yet shake out in his favor but I can’t imagine that it is the last time he will get himself involved in something sketchy. Karim, bless him, apparently isn’t that smart. He keeps making the same mistakes over and over. I want him to stay and keep his nose clean but I believe that is about as possible as Suarez keeping his teeth to himself.
That last line was very cheeky. Bravo.
Like I told you earlier… I’m having an unnaturally hard time with this.
I’m under the assumption it will blow over like everything else he does. I’m not fretting. Now if he goes to jail, then I WILL also have a naturally hard time with this.
Uggggh. I just want to shake him and ask how he could be so stupid.
You and me both. If he just listened to us and collaborated on JeyM, he wouldn’t be in this mess. More studio time, less jail time.
EXACTLY. Career advice and life coaching for footballers- why is this not our business?
Im curious, is he still with his child’s mother? What happened to the Rhianna romance rumors?
That thing with Rihanna was a summer fling. I’m not sure what is going on with him and Chloe, but it seems that they live together with Melia at least some of the time. Whether or not they are still involved is something else. They were on and off for years before they had her.
What Karim really needs is a reality check. How could he be so stupid when he is literally living the dream life that so many millions aspire to? He was a father and were an idol to so many…
I’m not saying that he is guilty. Because for his sake, I hope to hell he is innocent. But to even get tainted by something like this for a person in his place is nothing less that just stupid.
I’m just so disappointed and angry rn as a madridista. I mean, he always was an idiot. But this….
Yeah, I agree. It’s ‘check yourself before you wreck yourself’ time or perhaps that is past?
Sadly the thing is, I think he’s actually really smart intellectually. He’s very very articulate when he speaks.
You do? Maybe I’m completely missing something because I haven’t really seen evidence of that.
I’ve seen lots of interviews with him. I’m not uber fluent in French and he’s no Tom Hardy, but I think he is. His most recent lengthy interview I watched he did when Real Madrid was in Australia. I don’t know about his Spanish but it seems very smooth.
I want to be clear I’m not trying to defend Karim or whatever he partook in but I see him as one of my favorite footballers, certainly my favorite striker on the planet. So maybe I’m biased. For him to be involved is this is nothing short of stupid. He’s a naughty kid who doesn’t follow the rules. Maybe this one will slap the stupid out of him. But to me, he’s my guy. He might be a bad guy, but I don’t care what he does -within reason-. As long as he continues to play high quality football. He was as good as I’ve seen him last year and I hope he can hang on to it. I also think for Cris to keep putting up these numbers Benzema is essential. He’s not replaceable in my opinion. Not one bit.