Paul Pogba’s brother jailed for extortion

Paul Pogba’s brother jailed for extortion

A Paris court on Thursday sentenced a brother of France midfielder Paul Pogba to a three-year prison term, with two years suspended, after convicting him in a high-profile extortion case.

Mathias Pogba will be able to serve his one-year sentence with an electronic bracelet rather than behind bars.

The court also fined Paul Pogba’s brother 20,000 euros for participating in the attempted extortion of 13 million euros ($13.5 million) from Pogba in 2022, and for putting pressure on the player, his family and his business contacts to obtain the payment.

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

“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.”

Mathias was the one to go public in the case, publishing a video on social media in August 2022 promising revelations about his younger brother that were “likely to be explosive”.

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

He accused them of snatching him before he was held at gunpoint by two hooded men with assault rifles, demanding 13 million euros for “services rendered” and blaming him for not helping them financially.

Pogba said at the time that he had paid them only 100,000 euros.