Rabat – The court of the first instance in the city of Khouribga, central Morocco, has upheld the initial verdict against two individuals prosecuted for extortion against Herve Renard, former head coach of Morocco’s National Football Team.

The defendant’s sentence was reduced from two years to 18 months in prison in addition to MAD 50,000 compensation for Renard.

The two individuals, who passed themselves off as a Lebanese woman, began a virtual relationship with Renard before filming him naked and demanding a large sum of money to not share the video.

Renard sent the individuals MAD 100,000 ($11,245) through a Moroccan broker. The defendants continued to blackmail Renard and extort further money, and so Renard reached out to the authorities in October 2020.

In mid-February, police in Oued Zem arrested the suspects and took them into custody.

The defendants were prosecuted for an “attempt to fraud and obtain sums of money with a threat to divulge private information”, “participation in a fraud”, “fraud” and for having “filmed a person in a private place without his consent.”

On March 4, the court of the first instance of Khouribga sentenced the two individuals to two years jail time.