December 20 – There’s sibling rivalry and then there’s Paul and Mathias Pogba.
Mathias, the brother of World Cup winner Paul, and former Manchester United and Juventus superstar, were sentenced Thursday by a Paris criminal court to three years in prison, two of which were suspended.
The case against Mathias Pogba at the Paris Criminal Court was a case of extortion and kidnapping against a member of his own family. The judge ordered Mathias Pogba and five other childhood friends, identified only by first names, to stand trial in 2022 for the extortion scheme.
Five friends demanded €13 million ($13.6 million) after holding the France international at gunpoint. Defendants have repeatedly threatened Pogba, claiming he should have supported him after he became an international star. In the criminal filing, they were charged with extortion, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy along with imprisonment to facilitate crime.
Rushden K., the suspected mastermind of the blackmail scheme, was sentenced to eight years in prison. The rest have been jailed.
The court also found that Paul Pogba suffered economic damages of €197,000 ($204,000) and moral damages of €50,000 ($52,000). It ordered all the defendants, except Mathias Pogba, to jointly pay the money to their former friend.
The case came to light after Mathias Pogba posted threats on social media to share “explosive” revelations about his brother, as well as his Les Blues teammate, Kylian Mbappe.
Once regarded as one of the world’s best players, Paul has seen his career slowly fade into oblivion after testing positive for testosterone in August last year which resulted in Italy’s anti-doping court handing down the maximum penalty of a four-year suspension, which was later reduced to 18 months.
Recently, his current club Juventus mutually agreed to terminate his contract. Pogba will be free to resume his career in March 2025.
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