French international footballer Karim Benzema has been detained over a sex tape blackmail plot against fellow France international Mathieu Valbuena.
The 27 year old Real Madrid striker was being held by judicial police in Versailles, west of Paris.
The Versailles prosecutor has placed Benzema under formal criminal investigation, with a source close to the case saying: ‘We can confirm that he is being questioned over his role in this affair.’
Benzema is linked with a plot to extort money from Valbuena. Other arrests have been made in the Bouches-du-Rhone and Oise departments of France.
Valbuena, the 31-year-old Lyon midfielder was asked for money in return for the tape not being published, it is alleged.
Investigators are trying determine the extent to which Benzema was aware of the intimate video featuring Valbuena, which found its way into the hands of blackmailers.
