A previous professional tennis player from Morocco and a former butler to the president of PSG, Hicham Karmoussi, finds himself entangled in the legal issues surrounding Nasser Al Khelaïfi in France. This situation was highlighted in the March 27, 2025, episode.
Complément d’enquête
On France 2, a documentary entitled ”
“Power, Scandal, and Major Funds: PSG’s Fouls”,
revealing the businessman’s dubious transactions.
The investigations started in 2017 when France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s Office opened a case against Nasser Al Khelaifi concerning the distribution of broadcast rights. Serving as both the chairperson of BeIN Media Group and the president of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), he was accused of attempting to
conceal evidence
Before the police raids, he depended on his trusted aide, Hicham Karmoussi—an ex-Moroccan professional tennis player who worked as his butler from 2011 to 2018, apparently without a formal agreement.
On the March 27, 2025, broadcast of
Complément d’enquête
, Karmoussi surfaced as a crucial witness in the documentary focused on Al Khelaïfi.
When he went back to France, Nasser wasn’t fluent in French. He required assistance with tasks such as shopping, making reservations, and training sessions. We became quite close, nearly like family members. Many assume we led extravagant lives, traveling by private jet, but this isn’t accurate,” stated Karmoussi, keeping his identity hidden. Following legal action against Al Khelaïfi for undisclosed work in 2023, he faced charges of breaching trust towards his previous employer subsequently.
Destroying Evidence
Between 2016 and 2017, Al Khelaïfi reportedly instructed Karmoussi to dispose of evidence that might implicate him in legal issues. As per the ex-butler’s account, this entailed making
sensitive documents disappear
—computers, USB drives, and other items subject to legal examination.
In the France 2 documentary, Karmoussi characterizes his experience working under Al Khelaïfi as exploitation, mentioning “mental abuse” and “insults.” He asserts that he was essentially available around the clock, prevented from seeing his family and denied vacation time, permitted to rest solely during times when his employer was sleeping. “You work; you get emails at 4 a.m., 6 a.m., messages… You must reply, otherwise, issues will arise,” he stated.
The dispute between Al Khelaïfi and Karmoussi intensified, particularly because the former butler possesses direct evidence of the alleged improprieties involving the head of PSG. During an interview with Complément d’enquête, Karmoussi acknowledged efforts to “cause official papers to vanish.”
I was in my room when he called out to me, shouting, ‘Come, come, come!'” Karmoussi remembered. “I grabbed his papers, but he tossed them into the bathtub—they were already ablaze, setting the room on fire. They were documents from a meeting. He had started the fire himself.
Alleged Kidnapping Attempts
Karmoussi alleges that he has faced numerous attempted kidnappings aimed at taking him to Qatar. The Paris prosecutor’s office initiated a judicial inquiry against Al Khelaïfi in 2023 due to allegations involving “kidnapping,” “torture or acts of barbarity carried out by a criminal organization,” “extortion,” and “participation in a criminal enterprise.”
Over the phone, Al Khelaïfi supposedly put pressure on Karmoussi every day, insisting he go to the Gulf. “He dispatched individuals to my home (… ) A staff member attempted to force me into a vehicle. I was petrified and began shouting. The man stated, ‘No, calm down; let’s discuss this.’ I realized that once I reached Qatar, I would never be coming back,” Karmoussi shared his experience.
It was reported that Al Khelaïfi desperately wanted to recover a mobile phone possessed by Karmoussi—a device supposedly holding private video recordings made at Al Khelaïfi’s residence. A previous colleague stated that this phone eventually ended up with an intermediary who tried to exchange details related to the leadership for something else, even contacting the United Arab Emirates as part of these efforts. This go-between was detained and incarcerated in 2021. Allegedly, Al Khelaïfi aimed to bring Karmoussi to Doha under the pretense of discussing the issue further.
Karmoussi further stated that Al Khelaïfi’s legal representatives coerced him into signing papers after subjecting him to “20 questions” with pre-prepared responses.
