Mathias Pogba alleges that his brother, Paul Pogba, who plays for Juventus and France, admitted to hiring a witch doctor but denied doing so in order to cast a spell on France teammate Kylian Mbappe. Paul Pogba is a midfielder for both France and Juventus.
According to Mathias and the other suspects charged with trying to blackmail Pogba out of more than £11 million, Paul Pogba, the 29-year-old France international and ex-Manchester United midfielder, attempted to cast evil spells on Kylian Mbappé, 23, because he was jealous of the PSG striker. Mbappé is currently playing for Paris Saint-Germain.
Five of the suspects, including Matthias, are currently being held on remand, and they each face a maximum sentence of twenty years in jail if they are found guilty of the several counts against them, which include 'extortion in an organized gang.'
They claim to have captured a video of Pogba chatting to the witch-doctor, who refers to himself as "Ibrahim the Great" and costs as much as €100 (£88) an hour for his services. They say that the footage was shot on their phone.
Pogba has stated that he had "never intended to harm anyone," notwithstanding his denial that his engagement of the witch-doctor had anything to do with Mbappé.
Instead, Pogba stated to investigators working for France's Central Office for the Fight against Organised Crime (OCLCO) that he was "looking to be protected against injury" and "also to help poor kids in Africa" who he was connected with through an aid organization. Pogba was arrested and charged with bribery and other offenses.
Two different judicial sources in Paris corroborated the disclosures and the transcript from interviews that were finished up throughout the previous month while the investigators worked on the explosive case.
Pogba is now under the protection of the police while he is unable to participate in any games due to an injury.
Pogba has described how he was threatened by two men wearing hoods and brandishing assault rifles after being lured into a flat in Chanteloup-en-Brie, which is located in the eastern suburbs of Paris on March 19. This is one of the additional horrifying details that have emerged from the investigation.
Four days after a burglary in Manchester left his wife, Zulay, and the couple's two young boys in danger, he was in the city performing foreign duty. He was in the city four days after leaving Manchester.
Pogba claims that he had his mobile phone taken away from him and was told to pay the £11 million in return for 'protection fees' going back 13 years – the length of his professional career – and also for a guarantee that the witch doctor evidence, which was contained on a USB stick, would not be released. Pogba also claims that he was given a guarantee that the USB stick containing the witch doctor evidence would not be released.
"I was afraid," Pogba said after the game. "Both of those guys had their rifles trained on me," she said. I was being held like that at gunpoint, so I told them that I would pay what they wanted.
They yelled at us to be quiet and to gaze at the ground. Roushdane was the one who was directly addressed. Roushdane informed me that I needed to pay after the two individuals wearing hoods had left the area; else, the situation may become dangerous for all of us.
"Roushdane claimed that what had occurred was par for the course when you are a great footballer, but that I was had to pay since he had vouched for me."
Pogba started making efforts to gather the money, and he was only freed at 4 in the morning after being warned that he would be monitored.
After completing an initial payment of €100,000 (approximately £88,000), Pogba became aware that his blackmailers were following him around the training facility of his current team, Juventus. On July 16, Pogba reported the incident to the Italian police.