Karim Benzema Charged in Sex Tape Scandal, Alleged to Be Friends With A Cocaine Dealer

French national and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has found himself in some bizarre kind of hot water. Like, what the hell is even going on with the dude? Let's try to figure out what we know so far.

The BBC reported today that Benzema has been preliminarily charged for involvement in a blackmailing scheme against his French national teammate Mathieu Valbuena—specifically concerning a sex tape. Under French law, preliminary charges simply means there's a potential that someone (in this case, Benzema) committed a crime. Those charges may later be dropped. These kinds of charges essentially act as an invitation to further an investigation.

But whose sex tape? For how much money? Why? All of that is unclear, but seeing as how Valbuena is allegedly being extorted, it would seem that it's his sex tape.

Benzema reportedly mentioned the sex tape to Valbuena during a national team training session in early October. Making things even weirder—one source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Benzema was asking on behalf of "a childhood friend." Here is Eurosport's translation of the AFP report.

Reports Benzema on tape saying to a contact: "don't worry, he has no choice, I'll make him understand. He'll pay." https://t.co/klc6p03Oga
— Jeremy Smith (@jeremysmith98) November 5, 2015

Both Benzema and Valbuena were left off of the roster for the French national team's upcoming friendlies against Germany and England in mid November.

To make that level of weird even weirder, in a separate incident, Benzema has also been associated with an alleged cocaine dealer, according to Le Point. A drug trafficking scandal known as "Air Cocaine" is rocking the French media, and Benzema seems to be entangled with the number one suspect. The suspect, known as "Daryan" or "Rayan," is alleged to have orchestrated a series of transatlantic flights—one of which ended in two pilots escaping by jet boat after abandoning 1,500 pounds of cocaine in 26 suitcases aboard the plane, according to France 24.

After searching the compound of Daryan—purportedly a big soccer fan—authorities found pictures of Benzema with the alleged dealer, along with a set of cleats autographed by the French striker. Benzema's agent responded,

As of yet, there is no known connection between the cocaine incident and the sex tape incident, but even without relation, this is quite the stew Benzema has found himself in.