The influencer Poupette Kenza, placed in pre-trial detention last July in an extortion case investigated in Rouen, was released on Thursday and placed under judicial supervision, we learned from her lawyer.
“This detention was really motivated by the lack of guarantee of representation, the fact that she has her whole life in Dubai (…) her children, her husband, her accommodation, her bank accounts, her companies,” declared to AFP Me Jérémy Kalfon, confirming information from Le Parisien.
“From the moment her life was re-imported to France, there was no longer any reason for her to remain in detention given the moderate seriousness of the case,” he said.
The young woman, aged 24, is pregnant with her third child and this pregnancy “very probably allowed” her release to be examined “a little more quickly” by the courts, according to Me Kalfon.
Poupette Kenza, whose real name is Kenza Benchrif, was indicted for attempted extortion by an organized gang and criminal association.
The case was triggered by the complaint, on February 23, 2024, of a couple who “were the subject of various surveillance (physical, installation of mini-cameras near their home and GPS beacon placed on their vehicle) and was physically threatened on condition of handing over a sum of 200,000 euros”, explained the Rouen public prosecutor last July.
The influencer's companion, Allan Liehrmann, returned to France on September 23 “to explain himself to the law”. Arrested at the airport, he was in turn indicted for the same facts and imprisoned.
The investigation made it possible to find the alleged perpetrator of the extortion attempt, who was also indicted and imprisoned. The man was arrested during a meeting “planned to hand over the sum of money, while he was carrying a grenade”.
He admitted to having contacted the victims to “settle a financial dispute between them and an influencer currently living in Dubai”.
