LIVERPOOL STAR IS ARRESTED OVER ‘SEX TAPE BLACKMAIL’
Cops quiz French star over bid to take cash from ex-teammate
FORMER Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse has been arrested in connection with a plot to blackmail former team-mate and France international Mathieu Valbuena over a SEX TAPE.
Cisse, who also played for Sunderland and QPR in the Premier League during three spells in England, is one of four men being held by judicial police in France.
“We can confirm that he is being questioned over his role in this affair,” said a source working for investigators in Versailles, west of Paris.
Cisse is suspected of conspiracy to blackmail – a charge which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.
The striker, who cost Liverpool £14.5million in 2004, is said to have been part of a plot to extort money from Valbuena.
The arrests took place in the Bouches-du-Rhone and Oise departments.
Slammed
Valbuena, the diminutive 31-year-old Lyon midfielder who has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs, was asked for money in return for the tape not being published, it is alleged.
Cisse, 34, joined Saint-Pierroise in the Reunion Premier League, the top division in the French overseas territory Reunion located east of Madagascar, this summer.
He signed a month-long deal with the 850,000-population island-based club – but is now due to appear on the French version of Strictly Come Dancing, Danse Avec Les Stars, later this month.
Cisse and Valbuena were team-mates at Marseille between 2006 and 2009, as well as playing together with the French national team.
Last week, Cisse slammed his ex-wife for appearing on a Channel 5 reality TV show.
He branded Jude Cisse “a disgrace” for featuring in Britain’s Flashiest Families.
The progamme showed Ms Cisse, who celebrated her divorce with a party and threetiered cake depicting a headless groom, shopping for a Porsche.
Cisse was particularly angry that she had allowed their three children to be filmed.
Cisse became the first non-English speaking player to hold Liverpool’s transfer record.
His final spell in England ended just over two years ago when he left relegated QPR.
Cisse moved to the Russian Premier League for a short spell with Kuban Krasnodar before returning to France.