Valbuena sex tape compensation seized from Benzema's account

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has paid compensation and costs of €230,000 over the Mathieu Valbuena sex tape extortion case, according to Le Parisien. Had he not done so, his accounts could have been frozen by the French judiciary on the request of Valbuena’s lawyers, Le Parisien added. On 24 November, 2021, a Versailles court sentenced Benzema to a one-year suspended prison sentence and fined him €75,000 over his role in an attempt to blackmail Valbuena, a former international teammate of the France forward, over a sex tape.

The five defendants in the case were each ordered to pay €150,000 in compensation to Valbuena, with Benzema ordered to pay an additional €80,000 in costs for the civil action. Both the player and his lawyer, Antoine Wey, have appealed against the verdict.

Benzema lawyers to appeal compensation costs

The funds were seized from Benzema’s account on Thursday, Le Parisen reported. "These are the logical consequences of the immediate payment decision. We asked for an out-of-court payment that never happened, so we have moved on to the next step,” Valbuena’s lawyer, Paul-Albert Iwens, told AFP.

Benzema’s lawyers have termed the sentence “severe and very unfair,” and are set to launch an appeal in the second instance against the compensation payment.