French Football Star Paul Pogba Reportedly Paid $100K to Extortionists, Who Included His Own Brother

The case gained attention after Mathias Pogba threatened to publish "explosive" information about his famous brother, Paul's agent Rafaela Pimenta, and Kylian Mbappe on social media last weekend. In Instagram videos, Mathias appeared to be reading a statement that promised "great revelations" in Italian, Spanish, English and French.

World Cup champion Paul Pogba paid $100,000 ($100,000 euros) to an organized group that included his brother and tried to demand millions of dollars from him, NBC News reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, prosecutors in France are looking into claims that Paul Pogba, 29, was the victim of extortion by his brother Mathias Pogba, 32, and acquaintances from their youth. They continually threatened the French player and wanted 13 million euros from him, claiming that since he had achieved international soccer stardom, he no longer supported them, the prosecution alleged.

Pogba reportedly informed investigators he had already paid 100,000 euros. Paul Pogba also supposedly told detectives that the extortionists sought to defame him by alleging he hired a witch doctor to put a hex on Kylian Mbappe, another French star, according to French media sources. Pogba has denied the allegation.

In a tweet addressing Mbappe on Sunday, Mathias Pogba appeared to address the witch doctor claim: "Kylian, do you understand now? I have nothing against you, what I am saying is for your own good, everything is true and known, the witch doctor is known!"

In a series of video appeals, the brother of the French football star claimed his revelations "are likely to be explosive."

Paul Pogba made the payment in April after being threatened by armed, masked men in a Paris apartment in March while he was in the country for national team matches, according to a report from France's public broadcaster BFM.

Paul was subjected to intimidation from the group at the Juventus training facility in Turin. He reportedly claimed Mathias was one of them.

Paul responded by claiming that his brother's allegations were "in addition to threats and extortion attempts by an organized gang against Paul Pogba" in a statement sent through his attorney.

The attempted coordinated extortion is allegedly the subject of an investigation by anti-corruption police.

After spending six seasons at Manchester United, Paul Pogba won the World Cup with France in 2018, becoming one of the youngest players to score in the finals, and rejoined Juventus this summer. Also a soccer player, Mathias Pogba has played for lower-level European teams for the majority of his career.