French International Karim Benzema is in the custody of French police on Wednesday and being held for questioning regarding his alleged involvement in a blackmail attempt on Olympique Lyonnais winger Mathieu Valbuena, according to ESPN.
An anonymous police official told the Associated Press Benzema was put into custody after being summoned to a Versailles police station.
The goal is to determine what, if any, role Benzema played in the alleged extortion attempt that targeted his national team teammate, Valbuena.
Source close to Benzema: “No chance Karim will be accused, he’ll be allowed to go” https://t.co/Nx3AM6IHQA
— AS English (@English_AS) November 4, 2015"He wants to put an end as soon as possible to this controversy that rose from a case he did not take part in," Benzema’s lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, said in a message to the Associated Press.
Before his client was arrested, Cormier said his client would respond to any summons.
French international Djibril Cisse was also held for questioning regarding this case last month. The former Liverpool striker was quickly released without any charges.
Soupçons de chantage envers Valbuena : Cissé ressort libre de garde à vue... via @RTLFrance https://t.co/nLrKTnnzsm pic.twitter.com/KvRIooQkPe
— TopTrends.io (@Toptrendsio) October 25, 2015On that instance, Valbuena went on social media to show regret over his teammate being taken into custody.
"I'm genuinely sorry that my friend Djibril Cisse was taken into custody lately," Valbuena wrote on Facebook "From my point of view I have nothing to reproach Djibril for, who conducted himself as a friend by trying to help me.
"I have otherwise no declaration to make at this stage since the matter is in the process of being dealt with by police. I'd simply like to thank the police services for their efficient handling of the matter."
Cisse later said he was called for questioning because he tried to warn Valbuena.
"So they came to hear my side of the story. I never swindled [anyone]. Mathieu's a friend. We were at Marseille together and I used to bring him to training.
"So there wasn't any swindling -- I just warned him to be careful. He made a complaint, my name was included as part of it and they heard me. That's all."
Days later, Cisse announced his retirement from the game because of an injury.
According to the ESPNFC report, the alleged attempt was to extort up to £106,000 from the French winger over a sex tape.
