French footballer Paul Pogba's brother sentenced to one year in prison in extortion case

A Paris court on Thursday convicted the brother of France midfielder Paul Pogba in a high-profile extortion case and sentenced him to three years in prison, with two years suspended. Mathias Pogba, the elder brother of the former Manchester United player, will be able to serve his one-year sentence wearing an electronic device at home instead of behind bars. The court also fined Paul Pogba's brother 20,000 euros for taking part in an extortion attempt to extort 13 million euros ($13.5 million) from Pogba in 2022 and pressuring the player, his family and his business contacts to receive the payment. Planted.

Mathias Pogba's lawyer Mbeko Tabula said the verdict was “extremely harsh”, adding that he planned to appeal.

“He is clearly in a state of shock,” he said of his client.

“From the beginning, she has maintained her innocence, saying that she was molested, that she was coerced, that she was pressured, that she would never have behaved negatively toward her brother.”

The lawsuit comes on top of a professional crisis for Paul Pogba, whose career has not been smooth since France's 2018 World Cup victory when he scored against Croatia in the final.

The 31-year-old has suffered repeated injuries and poor form, which has led to his departure from Manchester United in 2022. He returned for a second stint at Juventus, where problems continued to follow him.

He is serving a suspension for doping that was reduced to 18 months on appeal and would have been free to play again in March next year, but Juventus terminated his contract last month.

The extortion case involving six men linked to Paul Pogba has shocked the French football world as the alleged perpetrators included three childhood friends and Pogba's own brother.

Five other defendants were found guilty of extortion, extortion and detention as well as participation in a criminal gang and sentenced to up to eight years in prison, as well as fines of between 20,000 euros and 40,000 euros.

The court also said that Paul Pogba suffered economic damages of 197,000 euros and psychological damages of 50,000 euros.

Only the charge of kidnapping was not sustained, as had been suggested by the government counsel.

Rushden K., who is considered the mastermind behind this case. Was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Matthias was the first to come out publicly on the matter, publishing a video on social media in August 2022 that promised revelations about his younger brother that were “likely to be explosive”.

In a later clip, Matthias accused Paul Pogba of casting bad magic on his international teammate Kylian Mbappé through a magician.

Pogba told French investigators in March 2022 that he had been “betrayed by childhood friends” in the Paris suburb where he and Mathias grew up.

She accused them of snatching her, before she was held at gunpoint by two gunmen with assault rifles, who demanded 13 million euros for “services rendered” and for not helping them financially. Pleaded guilty to.

Pogba said that at that time he paid him only 100,000 euros.