[7] The case started to come to light during an investigation by the Brigade de répression du proxénétisme into the activities of Abousofiane Moustaid, also known as "Abou Sofiane", a former contestant on Nouvelle Star who became the host of a celebrity show on the TNT channel.

The then-current French national team manager Raymond Domenech cited Benzema's struggle for form with his new club Real Madrid rather than his alleged involvement in the sex scandal as his reason for excluding the striker from the squad.

[6][13] Another member of the team, Sidney Govou, was also interviewed; however, he avoided prosecution as the investigation revealed that his meeting with Zahia took place after she had reached the age of maturity.

She gave her version of the case and declared, among other things, "I consider myself an escort, but not a prostitute" (providing support services without having sex with the client), and denied having a pimp or belonging to a network.

[2][25] In February 2011, the American and Spanish editions of V magazine[26] published a twelve-page tribute to Brigitte Bardot,[27] It included several photos of Dehar shot in New York, marking her return in the media.

[34] In the last quarter of 2011, her appearances in the media were less common, although she was photographed with Christian Louboutin and Farida Khelfa,[35][36] at a shoe exhibition at the Galerie du Passage in November 2011.

[39] After a brief eclipse, Dehar experienced a resurgence of media exposure at the beginning of 2012: a new series of photographs, shot by Karl Lagerfeld in January 2012,[40] was published just after her first lingerie show.

[41] She was photographed by Ali Mahdavi, artistic director of the Crazy Horse, in February for an article that Françoise-Marie Santucci[42] wrote about Dehar in Libération "Next".

[50][51] In November 2015, a few hours before the attacks in Paris, the artists Pierre et Gilles published on their Facebook account a photo taken a few months ago, Dehar posing as Marianne.

[54] The name Zahia and several derived words are thus claimed as private property, for several sectors of activity[55] such as massage oils, cosmetics, travel bags, jewellery, condoms, and the production of films and broadcasts.

[61] Dehar herself closed the half-naked parade in the traditional[62] tulle wedding dress decorated with cherry blossom petals, and embroidered with Swarovski rhinestones.