CRYSTAL PALACE’S new star Cheick Doucoure is at the heart of a blackmail scandal less than a week after joining the club.
The midfielder, 22, is being targeted by a group attempting to extort money from the £22million former Lens man, his lawyer has claimed.
In a shocking press release, Alexis Rutman, Doucoure’s lawyer, alleged that an agent, photographer and a journalist are threatening to expose Doucoure for having a “double identity” unless they stump up.
The group have bombarded Doucoure and his representatives with Whatsapp messages and what they claim to be evidence in the days since he joined Palace.
Rutman insists their claims are based on “false documents” and has threatened criminal and civil legal action.
In a statement, Rutman said: “Since the announcement of his transfer from RC Lens to Crystal Palace, Mr. Cheick Oumar Doucoure and his entourage are victims of blackmail and an attempt at extortion from several individuals acting in concert (a players’ agent and a photographer, supported by a journalist), clearly lured by the profits supposedly generated by this transaction.
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“These individuals claim, with false evidence, that my client would have a double identity and demand the payment of a sum of money in return for their silence.
“Several Whatsapp messages to this effect, accompanied by false documents, have thus been addressed to my client and his entourage over the past few days.
“This situation is very serious and obviously unacceptable.
“My client and his entourage will not yield anything in the face of such actions which expose their perpetrators face severe criminal penalties.
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“All appropriate legal actions will therefore be taken, both criminally and civilly, against these three individuals but also against all those who would support, endorse or relay, in any form whatsoever, such actions and/or such slanderous accusations.”
The Mali international joined the Eagles from French side Lens last Monday, signing a five-year deal at Selhurst Park.
Doucoure has been training in south London while Patrick Vieira’s side have been on tour in Singapore and Melbourne.