Benzema bank account frozen by France over scandal
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After being convicted for complicity in a bid to blackmail his team-mate with a sex tape and refusing to pay compensation, French football star Karim Benzema's bank account is seized by French authorities.
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Real Madrid player Karim Benzema
French bailiffs have seized 230,000 euros ($260,000) from Real Madrid player Karim Benzema over his conviction last year for complicity in a bid to blackmail former France team-mate, Mathieu Valbuena, with a sex tape, a source familiar with the case said Thursday.
A court-ordered Benzema in November to pay a fine, damages, and legal costs for pressuring Valbuena to pay off his blackmailers, as well as handing him a one-year suspended jail sentence.
Benzema, 34, "implicated himself personally, through subterfuge and lies, to convince his team-mate to submit to the blackmail," the court in Paris suburb Versailles indicated at the time.
The player has appealed the ruling, which came in the same year he made a stunning return to France's national squad after being dropped in 2015 over the blackmail allegations.
Valbuena's lawyers turned to the bailiffs to recover the cash from Benzema after he did not pay up voluntarily.
A source close to the case pointed out that the Real Madrid star's account had been partially frozen since Friday.
"This is the logical consequence of the decision for immediate payment. We asked for an amicable agreement on payment, which was never reached," expressed Valbuena's lawyer Paul-Albert Iweins.
