Pogba’s brother taken to court over extortion allegations
French football star Paul Pogba’s brother Mathias has already been taken to court on allegations that he attempted to extort money from the Juventus midfielder, a report from French outlet RMC Sport claims.
The outlet says that Mathias Pogba was set to be moved to a court in Paris on Friday, after his police custody was lifted.
On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, Mathias Pogba, who reportedly turned himself in, and four others were questioned by the local authorities.
Mathias was arrested in relation to claims from Paul Pogba that his brother and childhood friends attempted to extort money from him.
Franceinfo reported that there was a demand of €13 million ($13 million) for “protection services” rendered over a 13-year period since the former Manchester United star turned professional.
The threats are said to have been carried out in March while Paul Pogba was on international duty for Les Bleus.
In a bid to buy himself time and the gang’s silence, he is said to have paid them €100,000 ($100,000), but then took the matter to the police when the threats continued.
Mathias Pogba has maintained through his lawyer, Richard Arbib, that he is a “complete stranger” to any alleged extortion attempt against his brother, which only became public knowledge when Mathias published a video threatening to make “great revelations” about Paul, his lawyer, agent Rafaela Pimenta, and Paris Saint Germain sensation Kylian Mbappe.
This prompted Paul to release a statement claiming to have been the victim of an extortion attempt, which Mathias responded to by suggesting that his brother used witchcraft to cause his France teammate Mbappe to become injured.
Paul is said to have admitted to using witchcraft, but only in an attempt to keep himself injury free but not to have Mbappe harmed.
If this is the case, then the attempt at witchcraft was apparently unsuccessful, as Paul Pogba is currently sidelined by a knee injury and is so far unable to make his debut for Juventus, which he joined for the second time on a free transfer from Manchester United this summer.
The injury will require surgery and threatens to prevent him from joining France this November to defend the World Cup title they won in Russia four years ago. But Pogba has at least received backing from Mbappe, who has expressed willingness to put the debacle behind them for the sake of the national team.
Outlets such as L’Equipe say that had the conflict escalated, coach Didier Deschamps would have ultimately had to decide which of the two would board the plane to Qatar for the World Cup.
Now that Mbappe has buried the hatchet, Pogba only has his family problems and injury woes to resolve ahead of France’s tournament opener against Australia in Group D on November 22.
Before this, France will take on Austria and Denmark next week in the UEFA Nations League.
