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France and Real Madrid star Karim Benzema has been found guilty of a conspiracy to blackmail a fellow French footballer with a sex tape. A judge has sentenced Benzema to a one-year suspended jail term and asked him to pay INR 62,57,903 as a fine.
The 33-year-old was one of the five people who were charged and put on trial last month. The reason was an attempt to extort from Mathieu Valbuena through blackmail.
The case, reportedly, is as old as June 2015 when the two footballers were part of the same training camp of the French football team. It was this camp that the now found guilty footballer had exerted pressure on Valbuena to pay off the blackmailers. Benzema, it is being learned, had conspired with them to act as an intermediary.
After the decision by the court, Benzema's lawyers have stated that they would appeal his conviction.
"The reaction is ultimately an angry one to this judgment which is perfectly contradictory," his lawyer, Sylvain Cormier told the media outside court.
Benzema included in 11-man shortlist for Best FIFA Men's Men's Player award
Recently, Benzema was named in the 11-man shortlist for the Best FIFA Men's Men's Player award alongside Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho. Superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo feature among the nominees with Neymar, Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, N'Golo Kante and Kevin De Bruyne completing the list of potential winners.
Stina Blackstenius, Aitana Bonmatí, Lucy Bronze, Magdalena Eriksson, Caroline Graham Hansen, Pernille Harder, Jennifer Hermoso, Ji Soyun, Sam Kerr, Vivianne Miedema, Alexia Putellas, Christine Sinclair and Ellen White complete the shortlist of the Best Women's Player.
The fans can vote for their favourite players till December 10. Meanwhile, they have also conveyed that the winners of The FIFA Best 2021 (all categories) will be revealed on January 17 in an online ceremony.