• Mathias Pogba, 32, was taken into police custody on Wednesday as part of the investigation into the extortion denounced by his brother, Paul Pogba.

    Facts that he contests with the press through the voice of his lawyer.

  • Four other people, aged 27 to 36, are also heard by the investigators of the judicial police.

    They are childhood friends or relatives of the Pogba brothers.

  • The star of the France team had filed a complaint on July 16 in Turin, Italy.

    He explained that he had been trapped by childhood friends and two hooded men armed with assault rifles, who demanded the sum of 13 million euros.

The investigations into the extortion denounced by the footballer Paul Pogba accelerated with the placement in police custody, Wednesday, of Mathias Pogba and four other people.

The older brother of the player of Juventus Turin "presented himself to the police in order to be heard", indicates to

20 Minutes

his lawyer, Me Yassine Bouzrou.

“He strongly denies any participation in the acts of kidnapping and extortion with a weapon of which his brother Paul Pogba would have been the victim”, he adds.

The police custody of the five men, aged 27 to 36, can last 96 hours, the facts of which they are suspected having been committed in an organized gang, specifies a judicial source.

In addition to Mathias Pogba, 32, the investigators of the judicial police hear, in their premises in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), friends or relatives of the Pogba brothers.

These police custody were ordered as part of the judicial investigation opened on September 2 in Paris for, in particular, extortion with a weapon, kidnapping or kidnapping in an organized gang and participation in a criminal association.

The case started on July 16, after the midfielder of the France team filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office in Turin, Italy, where he has been playing since last July.

13 million euros would have been claimed from him

The player then denounced extortion attempts between March and July 2022 amounting to several million euros.

But the facts only came to light with the publication on August 27 of an enigmatic video of Mathias Pogba, himself a professional footballer, who promised "revelations" about his brother.

During his first hearing before the investigators, Paul Pogba said he was trapped by childhood friends and two hooded men, armed with assault rifles, accusing him of not having helped them financially, according to information from France Info , confirmed to AFP by a source familiar with the matter.

A sum of 13 million euros would have been claimed from him and he claims to have paid 100,000 euros.

The 29-year-old midfielder then claimed to have recognized his older brother Mathias among the suspects.

During another hearing, he felt in front of the investigators that Mathias was "under pressure" from people wanting to extract money from him.

attempt to discredit

In this case, the name of French football star Kylian Mbappé also appears.

Paul Pogba explained to investigators that "his blackmailers wanted to discredit him by broadcasting messages in which he would have asked a marabout from his family circle to cast a spell" on the PSG striker.

The Juve player has denied these allegations.

Kylian Mbappé confided in early September that he had chosen to "trust his word (that of Paul Pogba), in the interest of the France team".

"He called me and gave me his version of the facts," he added, assuring that this case had not deteriorated relations between the two players.

Sport

Pogba case: Mathias says he is "totally foreign" to extortion of money

Sport

Pogba case: The Minister of Sports pleads for better awareness "of the question of entourages"

  • Miscellaneous facts