Paul Pogba blackmail trial set to open in Paris

Six men linked to Juventus and France midfielder Paul Pogba go on trial Tuesday, accu$ed of b1ackmail, attempted ext0rtion of millions of euros and holding the player at gunpoint.

The case at the Paris crim!nal court has sh0cked the French football world — all the more so because the all3ged perp3trators include three childhood friends and Pogba’s own brother Mathias.

Tuesday’s tr!al comes on top of professional woes for Pogba, whose career has stru.ggled since France’s spectacular 2018 World Cup win when he scored against Croatia in the Moscow final.

He suff3red through repeated injur!es that led to his 2022 departure from Manchester United, returning to Juventus where he remained in and out of tr3atment.

The Turin club this month cancelled his contract following his susp3nsion until March 2025 for doping.

The six defendants in Paris are accu$ed of attempting to sque3ze 13 million euros ($13.5 million) out of Pogba.

Mathias was the one to go public in the case, publishing a video on social media in August 2022 promising revelations about his younger brother that were “likely to be expl0sive”.

In a subsequent clip, Mathias accu$ed Paul Pogba of casting an evi1 spell on his France teammate Kylian Mbappe.

Paul Pogba’s lawyers and his agent Rafaela Pimenta said in a statement later the videos “came on top of thr3ats and attempts at ext0rtion”.

He had already filed crim!nal complaints in Italy and France in July that year.

– ‘Tricked by childhood friends’ –
Pogba told French investigators he had in March 2022 been “tricked by childhood friends” from the gritty Paris suburb where he and Mathias grew up.

He accu$ed them of sna.tching him before he was held at gu.npoint by two ho0ded men with as$ault r!fles, demanding 13 million euros for “services rendered” and bla.ming him for not helping them financially.

Pogba said at the time that he had paid them only 100,000 euros.

The footballer said he had also been pressured at the France national team’s training centre in Clairefontaine, at one of his homes in Manchester, and at Juventus’ training ground.

Pogba added that he had also paid a bill of more than 57,000 euros that the same friends had ra.cked up at the Adidas store on Paris’ glitzy Champs-Elysees avenue.

“It’s been really d!fficult for me off the pitch, what’s happened, it’s been especially ha.rd mentally,” Pogba told broadcaster Al-Jazeera at the end of the last season.

“Money changes people, it’s the truth, it can destr0y a family, start a war”.

Paul Pogba’s lawyer Pierre-Jean Douvier declined to comment ahead of the case when contacted by AFP.

His friends have all denied the all3gations.

They had “a friendly relationship, with chats, joking around, and alongside that, yes, maybe Paul Pogba gave them a helping hand,” said Karim Morand-Lahouazi, a lawyer for one of the accu$ed.

A police overview of the case seen by AFP calls the childhood friends and other acquaintances of Paul Pogba “a cr!minal team… with the objective of extracting 13 million euros from Paul, who had cut them off financially” early in 2022.

The accu$ed claim they themselves were also victims of the h0oded men who held Paul Pogba at gu?npoint, who have never been identified.

Five of the accu$ed face charges of ext0rtion, k!dna~pping and forming a cr!minal gang.

Mathias Pogba, who was not present the night his brother was snatached, is suspected of “pressuring his brother Paul and his family to ensure the payment of the sum of 13 million euros” and is charged with attempted ext0rtion.

Mathias Pogba’s lawyer Mbeko Tabula said he would not comment until the end of the tr!al.

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