Paul Pogba's brother, Mathias, has been handed a three-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of attempting to extort the former Manchester United star. Mathias is one of six men who have been handed prisons sentences ranging between three and eight years. They were accused of attempting to extort €13 million (£10.7m) from Paul, who told prosecutors in 2022 that he had been held at gunpoint by two men who demanded the money.
"I was scared. The two guys pointed their guns at me. Suddenly, being pointed like this under threat, I told them that I was going to pay. They were shouting: 'Shut up, look down'. When the hooded guys leave, I was told that I had to pay them, otherwise we were all in danger," he told police, according to Le Monde.
The footballer paid €100,000 (£82,500) to the group and was repeatedly targeted and pressured into paying them more. Mathias has maintained his innocence throughout the saga, but he was found guilty on Thursday of 'committed pressure against his brother Paul and his family in order to ensure payment of the sum of €13m'.
Mathias, a fellow footballer who played for the likes of Wrexham, Crewe Alexandra, Crawley and Partick Thistle, has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined €20,000 (£16,500). Two years of his prison sentence are suspended. Mathias' lawyer Maitre Mbeko Tabula said: "It is an extremely harsh decision that does not correspond to our expectations. I will speak with Mathias but I think we will appeal. The decision does not correspond at all to the reality of this case and to Mathias' intentions towards Paul.
