Mathias Pogba jailed for extorting brother Paul Pogba

A brother of World Cup winner Paul Pogba was sentenced Thursday by a Paris criminal court to three years in prison — two of which are suspended — in an extortion and kidnapping case. 

Mathias Pogba had already spent time in detention and the remainder of the sentence will be served under house arrest with electronic monitoring. This sentence is in line with the prosecution's request. His lawyer said he would appeal the ruling.

The case at the Paris criminal court took place without the former Manchester United and Juventus player.

A judge had ordered Mathias Pogba and five other men to stand trial following an investigation into whether Pogba was the target of extortion by his brother Mathias and childhood friends in 2022.

The five others — identified by their first names only — demanded 13 million euros ($13.6 million) from the France midfielder, who was held up at gunpoint by hooded men in March 2022. The defendants repeatedly intimidated Pogba, claiming he should have supported them after he became an international soccer star. 

They were accused of extortion, abduction and confinement to facilitate a crime, as well as criminal conspiracy.

Roushdane K., suspected of masterminding the blackmail, was sentenced to eight years in prison. The others also received jail terms.

According to reports in French media, the court also found that Paul Pogba had suffered economic losses of 197,000 euros ($204,000) and moral losses of 50,000 euros ($52,000). 

It ordered all the defendants except Mathias Pogba to jointly pay this sum to the former Juve player.

During the investigation, Paul said he paid 100,000 euros ($104,000) to the organized group including his brother.

The case became public after Mathias Pogba posted threats on social media to share “explosive” revelations about his brother, fellow French star Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba's agent Rafaela Pimenta. Mathias was also a football player who spent most of his career with lower-tier teams in Europe.

Once one of the world's top midfielders, Pogba has made the headlines in recent years more often for his off-field problems than for his sporting ability.

Earlier this month, Juventus said it came to “a mutual agreement” with Pogba to cancel his contract despite the France World Cup winner having a ban for doping slashed last month.

The Serie A club never seemed overly enthusiastic about welcoming Pogba back after his four-year ban for doping was reduced to 18 months following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Pogba will be free to resume his career in March

Pogba tested positive for testosterone in August last year and was handed the maximum punishment by Italy's anti-doping court.

But CAS judges cut Pogba's ban as they acknowledged a lack of intent and said his positive test was the result of erroneously taking a supplement prescribed to him by a medical doctor in Florida. Pogba's contract with Juventus was set to expire in June 2026.

In 2016, Pogba became the then-most expensive soccer player in history when he joined Manchester United from Juventus for a fee of 105 million euros ($116 million).

He starred in France's World Cup triumph in 2018 but returned to Juventus as a free agent in 2022. Injuries limited him to just eight Serie A appearances in his second spell at the club before his ban last year.