A brother of the World Cup winner Paul Pogba was sentenced to three years in prison – two of which are suspended – by a Paris criminal court on Thursday in an extortion and kidnapping case.
Mathias Pogba has already spent time in detention and the remainder of the sentence will be served under house arrest with electronic monitoring. This sentence was in line with the prosecution’s request. His lawyer said he would probably appeal against the ruling.
“He is in a state of shock,” the lawyer, Mbeko Tabula, said. “From the outset, he has maintained his innocence. They did not take into account the fact that he has been manipulated, the fact that he has been forced to do things beyond his control.”
The case in court took place without the former Manchester United and Juventus player. A judge ordered Mathias and five other men to stand trial after an investigation into whether Paul was the target of extortion by Mathias and childhood friends in 2022. Mathias went on trial last month “for the offences of attempted extortion and criminal conspiracy”.
The five others demanded €13m from the France midfielder, who was held up at gunpoint by hooded men in March 2022. The defendants repeatedly intimidated Paul, claiming he should have supported them after he became an international football star. They were accused of extortion, abduction and confinement to facilitate a crime, as well as criminal conspiracy.
Roushdane K, suspected of masterminding the blackmail, was sentenced to eight years in prison. The others also received jail terms.
According to the legal documents, the court also found that Paul suffered economic losses of €197,000 and moral losses of €50,000. It ordered all the defendants except Mathias to jointly pay this sum to the former Juventus player.
During the investigation, Paul said he paid €100,000 to the organised group including his brother.
The case became public after Mathias posted threats on social media to share “explosive” revelations about his brother, Kylian Mbappé and Paul’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta. Mathias was also a football player and spent most of his career with lower-tier teams in Europe.
This month, Juventus said they had come to “a mutual agreement” with Paul to cancel his contract despite his ban for a failed drug test being slashed. Paul will be free to resume his career in March.
Source: theguardian.com
