Following his conviction in a well-known extortion case, a Paris court sentenced the brother of France footballer Paul Pogba to three years in jail, with two years suspended, on Thursday.
After being convicted in a high-profile extortion case, a Paris court sentenced the brother of France footballer Paul Pogba to three years in prison, two of which were suspended. Mathias Pogba, the ex-Manchester United player’s elder brother, will spend his one-year sentence at home while wearing an electronic device rather than in prison. The court also punished Paul Pogba’s brother 20,000 euros for his role in attempting to extort 13 million euros ($13.5 million) from Pogba in 2022, as well as for creating pressure on the footballer, his family, and his business contacts to make the payment.Mbeko Tabula, Mathias Pogba’s lawyer, said the ruling was “extremely harsh,” and he planned to appeal.
“He’s obviously in a state of shock,” he told his client.
“From the outset, he has maintained his innocence, saying that he was manipulated, that he was coerced, that he was pressured, that he would never have acted negatively towards his brother.”
The trial added to Paul Pogba’s professional troubles, which have been ongoing since France’s 2018 World Cup victory, when he scored against Croatia in the final.The 31-year-old’s frequent ailments and inconsistent play led to his exit from Manchester United in 2022. He returned to Juventus for a second tenure, but his troubles persisted.
He is serving a doping suspension that was reduced to 18 months on appeal, and he will be eligible to play again in March next year, but Juventus terminated his contract last month.
The extortion case involving six guys connected to Paul Pogba has stunned the French football community, as the alleged offenders include three boyhood pals and Pogba’s own brother.In addition to being sentenced to up to eight years in jail, the five other defendants were also fined between 20,000 and 40,000 euros for their involvement in a criminal gang, extortion, sequestration, and incarceration.
The court also declared that Paul Pogba had incurred 50,000 euros in psychological losses and 197,000 euros in economic damages.
The public prosecutor’s suggestion was to keep only the kidnapping charge.
Eight years in prison was imposed on Roushdane K., who was deemed the mastermind behind the event.In August 2022, Mathias made the case public by posting a video on social media that promised “likely to be explosive” disclosures concerning his younger brother.
In a later video, Mathias charged that Paul Pogba had engaged a witch doctor to put a malevolent hex on Kylian Mbappe, his international teammate.
After being “tricked by childhood friends” from the Paris suburb where he and Mathias grew up, Pogba told French authorities in March 2022.Before being detained at gunpoint by two hooded men with assault rifles who demanded 13 million euros for “services rendered” and accused him of not supporting them monetarily, he said they had snatched him.
Pogba claimed to have only given them 100,000 euros at the time.
