The two judges, whose prerogatives in terms of investigation are broader, are now responsible for a judicial investigation against X for “extortion with a weapon in an organized gang, kidnapping or sequestration with release before the seventh day in an organized gang to prepare or facilitating the commission of a crime or misdemeanor and participation in a criminal association with a view to committing a crime”.
The Pogba case is now in the hands of two investigating judges: the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation on Friday into the extortion denounced by the star of the French football team and Juventus Turin. A month after the opening of a preliminary investigation in Paris into this incredible affair, initiated following a complaint filed by Paul Pogba on July 16 with the Turin public prosecutor’s office, the investigations were entrusted to two investigating magistrates, a announced the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, in a press release.
The two judges, whose prerogatives in terms of investigation are broader, are now responsible for a judicial investigation against X for “extortion with a weapon in an organized gang, kidnapping or sequestration with release before the seventh day in an organized gang to prepare or facilitating the commission of a crime or misdemeanor and participation in a criminal association with a view to committing a crime”. They will have to shed light on various facts of which the 2018 world champion would have been a victim “between March and July 2022”, according to the press release.
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It could all be explosive.
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In this story that shakes French football two months before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the midfielder denounced extortion attempts amounting to millions of euros. The case came to light after the publication last Saturday of an enigmatic video of Mathias Pogba, the player’s older brother and himself a professional footballer, who promises “revelations” about the Juventus Turin player. “All of this risks being explosive,” he said in a video broadcast in four languages (French, Italian, English and Spanish).
To read, Pogba against Pogba: chronology of a fratricidal heartbreak
On Sunday, Paul Pogba, who returned to Juventus Turin this summer after a first stint between 2012 and 2016, and six seasons at Manchester United, counterattacked via a press release signed by his lawyers and his agent Rafaela Pimenta, who has just taken over. head of the company of Mino Raiola, the recently deceased star agent. “Mathias Pogba’s recent statements on social media unfortunately come as no surprise. They come on top of threats and organized gang extortion attempts against Paul Pogba,” the statement said.
“Blackmailers” and “marabout”
In this case, the name of French football star Kylian Mbappé also appears, reluctantly: Paul Pogba explained to investigators that “his blackmailers wanted to discredit him by broadcasting messages in which he allegedly asked a marabout about his family circle to cast a spell” on the PSG striker, which the Juve player denies. According to a source familiar with the matter, in addition to Paul Pogba, several people, including the player’s mother, were heard by investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (OCLCO) of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ ).
According to information from franceinfo confirmed to AFP by a source familiar with the matter, Paul Pogba told investigators that he had been trapped by childhood friends and two hooded men, armed with assault rifles, accusing him of not have helped financially. A sum of 13 million euros would have been claimed from him, and the “Pioche” claims to have paid 100,000 euros. Among the suspects, he claims to have recognized his older brother Mathias. For his part, Mathias Pogba published a new video on his Twitter account on Tuesday evening accompanied by a chain of messages in which he accuses his brother and his supporters of having sought to “drag (s) his name in the mud”.