Paul Pogba’s Brother Receives Suspended Sentence for Extortion Scheme

The brother of Paul Pogba has been convicted of attempting to extort the former France and Manchester United midfielder.

Mathias Pogba, 34, was among six men on trial in Paris after Paul Pogba alleged that he was the target of a €13million (£11.1m) blackmail scheme.

The ex-Wrexham and Crawley Town forward received a three-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, as well as a €20,000 fine after being found guilty of attempted extortion and criminal association charges.

He will complete the remainder of his sentence under house arrest with an electronic tracking device.

Mathias Pogba’s five co-defendants — identified only by their first names — were also found guilty on extortion and criminal association counts, receiving prison sentences that varied from three to eight years.

All six defendants denied any wrongdoing, asserting that they were victims of another group of blackmailers.

Paul Pogba, who is currently a free agent after parting ways with Juventus by mutual consent, was awarded around €250,000 in damages, which the convicted men must pay. He was not present in court to hear the verdict.

The 2018 World Cup winner informed police that he had been driven by two childhood friends and two acquaintances to a location near his hometown in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, where two armed men held him captive, demanding €13m for historical ‘protection services’ throughout his career.

Pogba told authorities that the group had extorted him by threatening to claim that he had hired a marabout — a Muslim holy man often associated with North African witchcraft — to curse Kylian Mbappe and other members of the France national team. Pogba denied this allegation, and Mbappe later expressed his belief in Pogba’s innocence.

During the inquiry, Pogba stated that he paid the group — including his brother — €100,000.

Mathias Pogba arrives at the Paris Criminal Court for his trial, in Paris on November 26 (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images)

The case gained public attention after Mathias Pogba released videos on social media promising to disclose “great revelations” about his brother, who has 91 caps for France.

Mathias Pogba stated that the “whole world, as well as my brother’s fans, and even more so the French team and Juventus, my brother’s team-mates and his sponsors deserve to know certain things.”

The trial concluded over a month after Paul Pogba had his four-year ban for failing an anti-doping test reduced to 18 months following a successful appeal at the Court of Arbitration (CAS).

As a free agent, Paul Pogba will be eligible to return to playing in March after the CAS ruling in October, having been suspended from all football-related activities since February this year.

The central midfielder last competed for club or country as a substitute in Juventus’ 1-1 draw against Empoli in September 2023.

(Top photo: Guillaume Souvant/AFP via Getty Images)