By Our Reporter
Paul Pogba’s brother and five other men will reportedly stand trial as part of an alleged extortion case that targeted the Frenchman two years ago.
Pogba, 31, filed a complaint after he was kidnapped and robbed in March 2022 by two unidentified masked and armed men in Paris , who demanded €13m (£10.98m) for ‘protection services’.
Five people close to the World Cup winner were said to have ‘meticulously prepared’ a meeting which ended with Pogba being kidnapped.
After the original threat, the group were said to repeatedly intimidate Pogba and claim that he didn’t support them after becoming an international star in order to get him to pay, as per Le Parisien.
And, after two years of investigations, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that Mathias Pogba and the five men would stand trial.
Mathias – a former footballer who represented the likes of Crawley, Crewe and Wrexham – will be trialled ‘for the offenses of attempted extortion and criminal conspiracy’ after he also posted threats on social media to share ‘explosive’ revelations about his brother.
Meanwhile, the five others are accused of ‘extortion and attempted extortion by using violence, abduction and confinement to facilitate a crime or misdemeanour, as well as criminal conspiracy’.
The report claimed that the two judges in the case have strong reason to believe that the five men allegedly tried to ‘force the player’ to give them money, with Pogba explaining how he had previously helped the group ‘voluntarily’.
However, it was claimed that in September 2021, he refused to give €7m (£5.9m) to three of them, before he took himself away from the group, leading to that fateful night in March 2022.
The two judges concluded the kidnapping and robbing ‘was not, as some of the accused were able to maintain, a simple friendly meeting but rather facts falling under criminal law’.
Mathias was said to be absent from the alleged kidnapping plot, but is set to be tried for attempted extortion and criminal association of having subsequently ‘committed pressure against his brother Paul and his family in order to ensure payment of the sum of €13m (£10.98m)’.
He subsequently spent three months in prison between September and December 2022 as police investigated his role.
Reports in the French media then also revealed how Pogba told investigators that the alleged extortionists were attempting to discredit him by making a series of claims.
This included Mathias claiming Pogba had hired a witch doctor to put a spell on his France team-mate Kylian Mbappe, while he also accused him of having ‘abandoned’ his family. Pogba denied the claims.
During the investigation, the 31-year-old also revealed he had paid €100,000 (£84,423) to the organised group.
Pogba, who plays for Juventus but is currently fighting against a four-year ban for doping, originally filed a complaint with Italian prosecutors in relation to this case, with it also taken up by French prosecutors in September 2022.
All six individuals denied their guilt in the affair, instead insisting they were ‘victims’ of the two armed robbers, while they also claimed they were assaulted after Pogba refused to pay the extortion demands.
Mathias released various videos about Paul across his social media platforms during 2022 saying there would be ‘great revelations’ about his brother.
Meanwhile, Mathias explained during the probe that he had been manipulated by the other suspects and was keen to reconcile with his brother, while he also insisted his actions had been motivated by a fear for his and his family’s safety.
L’Equipe had previously reported that Pogba told judges in the investigation about the impact the affair had on his playing career.
‘I kept all of this to myself for a long time and then I revealed it. This case has had a big impact on my body, especially on my injuries,’ he said.
‘I’ve spoken about it with the French national team manager.’
Pogba also confessed he feared his friends and family would be hurt among the turmoil, and now more than two years later, the six individuals involved will stand trial.
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