Mathias Pogba, a brother of the World Cup-winning France midfielder Paul Pogba, was sentenced on Thursday to three years in jail for his part in a plot to kidnap and extort 13 million euros out of his star sibling.
Mathias Pogba, 34, went on trial last month at Paris criminal court with five other men.
They were accused of extortion, abduction and confinement to facilitate a crime, as well as criminal conspiracy.
The defendants, who included friends from Paul Pogba's childhood, repeatedly intimidated Pogba, claiming he should have supported them after he became an international star.
They eventually demanded 13 million euros from Paul Pogba, who was held up at gunpoint by hooded men in March 2022.
Roushdane K, suspected of masterminding the blackmail, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Judges suspended two years of Mathias Pogba's term and having already spent time in detention, the remainder of the former footballer's sentence will be served under house arrest while he is monitored electronically.
A judge had ordered Mathias Pogba and the other men to stand trial following an investigation into whether Paul Pogba was the target of extortion.
During the inquiry, Paul Pogba told the court he paid 100,000 euros to the group including his brother.
The case became public after Mathias Pogba posted threats on social media to share what he called explosive revelations about his younger brother, the then Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappé and Paul Pogba’s agent Rafaela Pimenta.
Paul Pogba without a club
Feted as one of the best midfielders of his generation, Pogba appears to have squandered his talent and has made the headlines more often for his off-field problems than for his pyrotechnics on the park.
While playing for Italian giants Juventus in August 2023, Pogba tested positive for testosterone after a Serie A game against Udienese. He was slapped with a four-year ban by Italy’s anti-doping court.
But judges at the Court of Arbitration for Sport slashed the suspension to 18 months. They acknowledged a lack of intent and said his positive test was the result of mistakenly taking a supplement prescribed to him by a doctor in Florida.
In December, Juventus said it had come to a mutual agreement with Pogba to cancel his contract. The 31-year old will be free to start training officially from next month before a return to competitive action in March.
Though linked with an array of clubs including Ligue 1 giants Marseille, Pogba has not announced a new destination where he can resuscitate his career.
In 2016, he became the most expensive soccer player in history when he joined Manchester United from Juventus for a fee of 105 million euros.
At the end of his first season in north-western England, he was part of the Manchester United teams that won the League Cup and the Europa League.
In the 2018 world Cup final, he scored the goal that gave France a 3-1 lead in the 4-2 defeat of Croatia in the final in Moscow. Three years later, he helped France to the Nations League crown.
