Paul Pogba affair: a summary of the scandal in 10 chapters

The affair of the sequestration and the attempted extortion targeting Paul Pogba in 2022 will succeed   ;agrave; a trial, indicated AFP this Tuesday, September 10, 2024. The summary é of the case, step by step.

The Pogba case will indeed end in a trial. This Tuesday, September 10, 2024, after two years of investigation, AFP indicates that two investigating judges have ordered the referral to the criminal court of six acquaintances and close friends of the footballer, currently suspended for doping, including his brother Mathias.

Three childhood friends and two former acquaintances from the neighborhood where the Pogbas grew up, at Roissy-en-Brie, will be tried mainly for extortion, kidnapping and criminal association. Mathias Pogba will be tried for attempted extortion and criminal association. A look back at this case that has the football world in turmoil in the summer of 2022, a few weeks before the World Cup organized in Qatar.

The Pogba case in 10 chapters

1- The intriguing video of Mathias Pogba

The Pogba case began with a complaint filed on July 16, 2022 with the Turin prosecutor's office by Paul Pogba, in which he denounced extortion attempts between March and July 2022 amounting to several million euros. But it really exploded on Saturday, August 27, 2022, when Mathias Pogba, 32, published a series of intriguing messages on social networks. Paul Pogba's older brother then promised “big revelations” about his younger brother, 29, putting the football world in feverish anticipation.

In this video broadcast in four languages ​​(French, Italian, English and Spanish), Mathias Pogba, himself a professional footballer, announced that “the whole world”, like Juventus Turin, the Italian club where his brother returned in the summer of 2022 after a first stint between 2012 and 2016, and six seasons at Manchester United, deserved to “know certain things in order to decide with full knowledge of the facts whether he [Paul Pogba, editor's note] really deserves admiration, respect, his place in the French team, whether he is a trustworthy person”. “All this risks being explosive”, he concluded, without giving further details.

2- The press release from Paul Pogba's lawyers

On Sunday, August 28, 2022, Paul Pogba counterattacked via a press release signed by his lawyers and his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, who had just taken over the company of Mino Raiola, the recently deceased star agent. "Mathias Pogba's recent statements on social media are unfortunately not a surprise. They come on top of threats and attempts at organized extortion against Paul Pogba," the statement said.

“The relevant authorities in Italy and France were notified a month ago and there will be no further comments regarding the ongoing investigation,” Paul Pogba's representatives continued in this press release.

3- Details of the case revealed

According to the first revelations from franceinfo at the end of August 2022, Paul Pogba confided, during the hearings to investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (OCLCO). He said he had been “in particular set up by childhood friends and two hooded men armed with assault rifles” in March 2022, when he was going to visit his family in Seine-et-Marne, on the sidelines of a gathering of the Blues. According to sports columnist Daniel Riolo, who spoke on BFM TV at the time, Paul Pogba was even briefly kidnapped on this occasion. Franceinfo added that he had been “trained in an apartment in Paris".

The events of the evening of March 19-20, 2022 have since become much clearer, particularly through leaks from Paul Pogba's two hearings, on July 16, 2022 by Italian investigators in Turin, then on August 9, 2022 in Nanterre by the French authorities. According to details provided in particular by the newspaper Le Monde and the continuous news channel BFM TV, Paul Pogba confided investigators to have spent several hours with a childhood friend, Boubacar C., in Roissy-en-Brie, before being approached by “other friends from the neighborhood” as he wanted to return to the Hôtel des Bleus around midnight.

The three men, Adama C. and the brothers Roushdane and Machikour K., then allegedly took him to an apartment in Chanteloup-en-Brie. He was allegedly asked to turn off his mobile phone, then two hooded men, wearing bulletproof vests and “heavily armed” (an M16 assault rifle and a pump-action shotgun), allegedly intervened, pointing their guns at the footballer and demanding 13 million euros, including 3 million in cash. The motive: “protection” for the player, which the two men allegedly provided. for years. Paul Pogba will be released around 4am, after having tried to pay via his phone, without success, then promised to pay the amount demanded, document signed in support.

Paul Pogba, who is currently sidelined due to injuries and doping suspicions, had assured investigators that he had also been intimidated several times in Manchester and even at the Juventus training center. Paul Pogba reportedly claimed to have recognized his older brother Mathias among the suspects several times.

4- Did Paul Pogba pay money to his alleged attackers ?

Paul Pogba's attackers allegedly demanded €13 million from him, including €3 million in cash for “services rendered”, claiming to have protected him discreetly for 13 years and accusing him of not having helped them financially since he became a professional player. According to several media outlets, the Frenchman wanted to pay the sum demanded on the evening of his kidnapping, but his bank limited his withdrawal, forcing him to make a written commitment to his attackers.

In this handwritten document signed on the night of March 19 to 20, Paul Pogba allegedly committed to financing investments “in crypto currency and the metaverse.” He then allegedly requested a transfer of 13 million euros via an Italian bank to Adama C.'s account, before retracting, Le Monde wrote. A call to his bank on March 20, in the presence of Boubacar C., is also mentioned.

Paul Pogba is said to have finally paid 100,000 to Boubacar C. in Manchester, a few weeks after the night of March 19 to 20, 2022. Several transfers to two suspects in the case will also be mentioned, amounting to a few tens of thousands of euros. Investigators are also said to have discovered purchases totaling 47,000 euros from Paul Pogba's relatives in a sports store on the Champs-Élysées at the end of March. But the player is said to have tried to escape his racketeers from the end of March-beginning of April, blocking transactions and changing his number twice. It was the resumption of pressure in mid-July, in Italy, that apparently pushed him to file a complaint in Turin.

5- Kylian Mbappé, marabout ?

In this case, the name of French football star Kylian Mbappé also appears, without his knowledge: Paul Pogba explained to investigators that during the evening of March 19, 2022, “his blackmailers wanted to discredit him by broadcasting a video in which he allegedly asked a marabout from his family circle to cast a spell” on the PSG striker, which the player denies. A video on a USB stick was notably mentioned in the press.

Mathias Pogba, who is very vocal on social media, has fueled the rumor several times. “Kylian, now you understand ? I have nothing negative against you, what I say is for your own good, everything is true and proven, the marabout is known! Sorry about this brother, a so-called Muslim deep in witchcraft, it is never good to have a hypocrite and a traitor close to you!” he wrote on Twitter in particular the end of August

In early September 2022, Kylian Mbappé indicated at a press conference that he had been able to speak directly with Paul Pogba, assuring him that the affair would not affect their relationship. “I prefer to trust the word of a teammate. He called me, he gave me his version of the facts and today it's his word against his brother's word, so I'm going to trust “my teammate in the interest of the selection”, declared the star.

6- Messages from Mathias Pogba

Between the end of August and the beginning of September 2022, Mathias Pogba made numerous interventions on social networks, maintaining his accusations against his brother, always without formulating them explicitly: “I hope that you will not be fooled by an attempt at manipulation by the media and the authorities. When you are famous, everyone is with you, the authorities listen more attentively. But that doesn't put you above justice, the police are not your minions!”” he wrote on Twitter at the end of August 2022.

Mathias Pogba also called out his brother very directly. “Paul, you really wanted to silence me even if it meant lying and sending me to prison […]. You let me in the hole while fleeing and you want to play innocent,” he said, adding: “When all is said and done, people will see that there is no one more cowardly, more traitorous and more hypocritical than you on this earth. It is not about money: you involved me in spite of myself, I almost died because of you, you left me in the hole while running away and you want to play innocent."

On the night of Tuesday 30th to Wednesday 31st August 2022, Mathias Pogba published a video, in which he considered that “”because of money and fame, [Paul Pogba] has lost touch with reality for a long time”. “People talk about sorting things out as a family, but if this brother doesn't want to talk and is stubborn, destroy the family, what choice is left ?" he completed. "Paul claims that the money he offered to his childhood friends was extorted. Easy for the media to say, but what do you do if this money is justified? by official and recorded documents, and that there is evidence of a consensual gesture! ? It's not the same, is it ?”

7- What is Mathias Pogba's role in this affair ?

Mathias Pogba, who has been speaking through his lawyer since the start of the 2022 school year, said he was “completely unconnected with any extortion maneuver against his brother” and also presented himself as a victim of the blackmailers, claiming to have been threatened at the end of July. “It is clear that the difficulties experienced by the Pogba family are the result of external threats which the justice system, now seized of the matter, will take the measure of,” wrote Me Richard Arbib in a press release. “Mathias Pogba, who aspires more than anything to to calm the situation with his brother, will now reserve his word for the investigating judges in charge of this case, if necessary”, he also specified.

Mathias Pogba was taken into custody on September 15, 2022, then indicted and imprisoned on September 17, 2022 as part of the judicial investigation opened on September 2 in Paris. He will be prosecuted for “extortion in an organized gang” and “participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing a crime”. Granted the status of assisted witness for the charge of “kidnapping”, he will initially be suspected of having played a “hyphen” role in the alleged extortion attempt, in particular by providing information to the other suspects on Paul Pogba's schedule and movements, which he was the only one to know. 

According to the elements of his police custody, revealed in the press, Mathias Pogba allegedly claimed to have only become aware of the threats against his brother in July 2022. In mid-July, he allegedly went to Turin to discuss it with Paul Pogba at the Juve training center. Mathias Pogba then allegedly left “threatening messages” at the end of July 2022 for Paul Pogba and allowed the suspects to enter inside the home of his mother, Yeo Moriba, who will also be threatened. Finally, Mathias Pogba confirmed that he “took the initiative to shoot the video threatening his brother Paul, on August 27, 2022, with compromising revelations. He reportedly claimed to have made this video under pressure from the attackers.

During a previous hearing, Paul Pogba reportedly felt that his brother Mathias was “under pressure” when recording this video: “He's a calm guy, unrecognizable in the video where he's shaking, he's not like that in real life,” a close friend of Pogba had said. AFP.

8- Who are the other suspects in the Paul Pogba case ?

In addition to Mathias Pogba, four other suspects, some of whom are close to the French team player, will soon be mentioned. Three were indicted like Mathias Pogba in early September 2022. They were arrested at their home in Roissy-en-Brie, a town in Seine-et-Marne from where are from Pogbas.

Four first names were mentioned in the press, without their full surnames being revealed: Boubacar C., with whom Paul Pogba allegedly started the evening of March 19, 2022, his brother Adama C. and brothers Roushdane and Machikour K., “childhood friends” who then approached the player and took him to the apartment where he was threatened by two masked and armed men.

The name of Mamadou M. is also mentioned, the latter being presented as Paul Pogba's “confidential man”. For a year and a half, in England, this man in his thirties and known to the police is suspected of having withdrawn up to 200,000 euros with the player's bank card, without his knowledge. This alleged scam, carried out while the suspect was living with Paul Pogba when he was playing at Manchester United, could also be the starting point for the midfielder's friction with his relatives. During the night of March 19 to 20, 2022, Mamadou M. is said to have accused Paul Pogba of spreading a rumor accusing him of stealing his money.

Among the suspects, a man in his forties with a “very heavy criminal record” and who “has already been to prison for attempted homicide”, will also be mentioned in the press, without it being known precisely whether he corresponds to one of the aforementioned names.

All deny having participated in the extortion attempt. According to AFP, which cites a “source close to the case” in the fall of 2022, three of them assured that they had been threatened by other members of the organization and presented themselves as “victims” too. Boubacar C. was allegedly threatened by three hooded individuals in Seine-et-Marne in May 2022, Mamadou M. reportedly had his car set on fire in mid-July 2022 in the Paris region, Roushdane K. reportedly was shot in the hand. He was about to leave for Tunisia when he was arrested in mid-September 2022. Two suspects and Mathias Pogba were also reportedly “held at gunpoint by several men in a car in Roissy-en-Brie” end of July 2022, according to Le Monde.

9- What is the role of Yeo Moriba, the mother of Paul and Mathias Pogba ?

According to RMC Sport, the mother of Paul and Mathias Pogba was also received by investigators at the end of summer 2022. Yeo Moriba was heard as a witness after the opening of a preliminary investigation on August 3, on charges of organized extortion and attempted extortion. Paul Pogba also stated that his mother had also been put under pressure. According to Le Parisien, videos of reprisals were shown to Yeo Moriba to increase the threats. A scenario that the leaks of the hearings of Paul and Mathias Pogba seem to confirm at this stage.

But the exact role of Yeo Moriba has long been questioned. Questioned by Le Figaro at the end of summer 2022, the president of Tours FC Jean-Marc Ettori questioned the sincerity of the mother of Paul and Mathias Pogba, a “leader of the gang who pilots everything, the one who says yes, the one who says no”. Mentioning a possible transfer of Mathias Pogba to Tours in the past, he will report unfulfilled promises from Yeo Moriba to at the time. “We were told to take Mathias and Paul will pay his salary, his expenses […]. We never got the money,” he explained. In a message posted on social networks, Mathias Pogba will also claim that his mother was a victim of Paul Pogba's relationships and was threatened.

In addition to the complaint filed on July 16, 2022 with the Turin prosecutor's office, an initial investigation was entrusted to the services of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) and a judicial investigation opened in France on September 2, 2022, in Paris, for in particular “extortion with a weapon, kidnapping or sequestration by an organized gang and participation in a criminal association”. The case was reportedly named “Penalty” in the corridors of the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (OCLCO),  in charge of the investigation.

After two years of investigations, two investigating judges ordered, on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, the referral to the criminal court of six acquaintances and friends of the footballer, including his brother Mathias. Three childhood friends and two former acquaintances from the neighborhood where the Pogbas grew up, in Roissy-en-Brie, will be tried mainly for extortion, kidnapping and criminal association. Mathias Pogba will be tried for attempted extortion and criminal association.

The first five are suspected of having organized the meeting of March 19, 2022 in the suburbs, to force the player to help them financially. “It was not, as some of the accused have been able to maintain, a simple “friendly” meeting, but rather facts falling under criminal law”, indicate the two judges in the referral order that AFP was able to consult.

Mathias, absent that night and who discovered the kidnapping after the fact, is suspected of of having “put pressure on his brother Paul and his family in order to ensure payment of the sum of 13 million euros” demanded. He is said to have pleaded fear and manipulation of the other suspects.

During the investigation, all those charged claimed to have themselves been victims of “pressure and aggression” of the two armed men who intervened during the evening of March 19, 2022. Designated as the instigators, they were never identified. According to the judges, Paul Pogba would have finally made payments totaling nearly 250,000 euros…