Today, the Paris Criminal Court issued a three-year prison sentence, including two years suspended, against Mathias Pogba in the case of blackmailing his brother, the French international player Paul Pogba.
Mathias will serve his one-year prison sentence under house arrest by wearing an electronic bracelet. He was also fined 20,000 euros for his role in the blackmail attempt that took place in 2022, where he demanded 13 million euros from his brother, in addition to exerting great pressure on the player, his family, and his professional relationships to obtain the amount.
Five other defendants, childhood friends and acquaintances of Paul Pogba, were also convicted on charges of extortion, detention, possession of weapons and participation in a criminal association.
They were issued prison sentences of up to eight years, fines ranging from 20 to 40 thousand euros, in addition to a ten-year ban on carrying weapons.
Rushdan K. was sentenced. The suspected mastermind of the group, who appeared before the court in detention, was sentenced to eight years in prison, as requested by the Public Prosecution.
Adama C. was also sentenced. He was imprisoned for five years with an order for immediate implementation. He left the courtroom handcuffed and under police guard.
As for Mamadou M. He was sentenced to five years in prison, including 12 months suspended.
Finally, Mashikor K. and Mashikor K. were sentenced. and Boubakar S. Imprisonment for four years, including two years suspended for the first, and three years suspended for the second.
Most defense lawyers expressed their anger at the sentences, which they considered too strict, and announced their intention to appeal the ruling.
The “Pogba case” began on the night of March 19 to 20, 2022, with an ambush of Paul Pogba in an apartment in Monteverrin (Seine-et-Marne, a suburb of Paris). Two masked men held him at gunpoint in an attempt to extract 13 million euros from the midfielder, who was then playing for Manchester United in England and then Juventus in Italy.
The issue came to light after Mathias Pogba broadcast video clips on social media in four languages (French, Italian, English and Spanish) on August 27, in which he vowed to reveal “big things” about the world champion.
According to sources close to the player’s family contacted by Agence France-Presse, large sums of money were requested from Paul Pogba if he wanted to avoid publishing alleged videos harmful to him.
Paul told investigators that his blackmailers wanted to tarnish his reputation, by claiming that he had asked a marabout (a cleric) to cast a spell on his teammate and Paris Saint-Germain star at the time, international striker Kylian Mbappe, something he denies.
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