Mustapha Zouaoui is Karim Benzema's friend, and according to police investigations, the mastermind of the foiled attempt to blackmail Mathieu Valbuena in which Benzema was implicated. Zouaoui has been re-arrested on attempting to leave the country while under judicial supervision, as  reported in French newspaper L'Equipe.

Zouaoui was detained on June 24 in the Marignane airport (Bouches-du-Rhône), where he tried to board a plane to Algeria to visit his sick mother.

Benzema is currently sitting out Euro 2016 with France set to face Iceland in the quarter-finals due to the fallout over this case. However, the French Football Federation president Noël Le Graët made a point of highlighting that the Real Madrid forward "has not been banned for life", just excluded from the squad for his involvement in the case.