BLACKMAILERS demanded £17,000 in bitcoins from a Spanish football manager to stop an explicit video going online, it was claimed today.
Criminals resorted to a form of sexual blackmail called sextortion to try to force Malaga boss Victor Sanchez del Amo into making the payment, respected local paper Sur reported.
Victor Sanchez took charge of Malaga in AprilCredit: Getty – Contributor
A police cybercrime unit is still trying to identify the suspects, thought to have hidden their IP address, and put together a list of people who shared the video.
Sanchez, who was suspended by his club after the footage of him exposing himself while wearing a club shirt was leaked online, has already put out a statement warning people they are committing a crime by sharing intimate images of someone without their consent.
His wife May Catalina Trigo has already said she is standing by the 43-year-old former Real Madrid player.
She joined the army of critics who have attacked the club decision to suspend him by saying overnight: “As his wife, I cannot believe that after suffering extortion for doing what he wants in his intimacy without hurting anyone, there are those who attempt to change the view of what happened instead of accusing the guilty.”
May spoke out after an extraordinary social media message in English from Malaga president Abdullah ben Nasser Al-Thani following Sanchez’s blackmail claim which said: “We are still waiting to know who is the person he lying always?
“He is like the Angel Never make mistakes. He does not want to admit the mistake.
“Just one time said the truth. Did you think that will help you of you always lying to everyone!
“Be strong and say I made a mistake.”
After suffering extortion for doing what he wants in his intimacy without hurting anyone there are those who attempt to change the view of what happened
Malaga manager Victor Sanchez’s wife
The manager of the Spanish second division side, relegated from Spain’s top league at the end of the 2017/18 season after ten seasons in La Liga, said in a tweet: “I want to inform you that I am the victim of a crime against my privacy through harassment and extortion.
“The matter is in the hands of the police and I am following their instructions.
“I also want to inform you that sharing or publishing intimate content of anyone without their consent is a crime.”
Malaga Football Club said in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon: “Following the events that have recently come to light and have yet to be verified, Malaga FC has suspended manager Victor Sanchez del Amo immediately until a full investigation has been completed.”
Paco Jemez, manager of La Liga side Rayo Vallecano has been among those who have criticised the decision to suspend him.
He said: “I know Victor and as I know him the first thing I’m doing is sending him and his family a big hug.
“You have to be a very bad person and a son of a b***h to do what they’re doing to him.”
Sanchez is understood to have first alerted police to what was going on in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo ahead of his side’s away match on Saturday before making a full police statement on his return to Malaga.
It is not yet clear how the video, said to show him exposing himself while wearing a Malaga-branded T-shirt, was obtained.
Speculation has centred on Eastern European criminals, who are often behind the growing crime of sextortion, hacking his social media accounts or someone filming him during a conversation without his knowledge.
A spokesman for Spain’s National Police, which is leading the investigation, confirmed this morning: “The Police CyberCrime Unit’s investigation is ongoing.
“We have nothing new to disclose at this moment in time.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
