Topics: France, Paul Pogba, Mathias Pogba
The Juventus star is reportedly assisting the police to investigate a blackmailing attempt involving his brother and his childhood friends.

Paul Pogba and his lawyer have filed legal complaints in France and Italy for attempted blackmail, a report from France has revealed. The Juventus player and his attorneys have told police investigators that his brother Mathias has been involved in a scheme to extort him of roughly $13 million.

The development in Paul Pogba's camp comes after a video on social media by Mathias Pogba, a former player of Ligue 1 side Saint Etienne, emerged over the weekend. In the footage, the latter claimed he was about to deliver a major exposé about his brother's career, his agent and lawyer Rafaela Pimenta, and French superstar Kylian Mbappé.

"I'm announcing that I'll soon be making big revelations about my brother, Paul Pogba, his lawyer, his friend and his confidante Rafaela Pimenta, who Paul calls his 'second mother' as if one wasn't enough," he said.

"For those who don't know me, I'm a professional footballer and the big brother of world champion Paul, who has joined Juventus after a disappointing spell at Manchester United. "I'm making this video today because I think that the French, Spanish, English, and Italian people, as well as fans of my brother, Juventus, the French national team, his teammates and his sponsors, deserve to know certain things so they can decide in full knowledge of the facts whether he really deserves the respect, admiration, and love of the public.

"If he deserves his place in the French squad, if he deserves to play in the World Cup if, he deserves to start for Juventus, if he is a person worthy of our confidence and whether he is worthy of being a role model for the youth."

On Mbappé he said, "I will also tell you very important things about Kylian Mbappé, the star of world football, and there will be numerous witnesses to confirm my remarks. All of this could be explosive and make a huge noise."

In respose to the declaration of Mathias, Pogba, his mother, and his legal advisors released a statement refuting the allegation. The subsequently stated that the former Manchester United star was currently the subject of a blackmail attempt.

"The recent declarations of Mathias Pogba on social media are unfortunately not a surprise," the statement read. "They are coming after threats and attempts of extortion by an organised gang against Paul Pogba.

"This has been referred to the appropriate authorities both in Italy and in France a month ago."

Mutiple media outlets in France have reported that indeed an investigation has been launched into the extortion claims being made by Paul Pogba. On Sunday, Mathias Pogba, again, took to social media to hit out at the media for attempting to distort the facts. He further claimed that his brother had also lied to Italian authorities, with investigations on the alleged blackmail also underway in Turin.

"I hope you won't be fooled by an attempt to manipulate the media and the authorities," Mattias Pogba said.

"When you are famous the world is with you, the authorities listen more attentively. But that doesn't put you above the law, the police aren't your minions! Ah, and not long ago, my brother claimed to the Italian police that he did not know our 1st cousin, with whom we grew up, paying him a simple visit and who did nothing to Paul, the family can testify to this.

"This is about a harassment complaint against an innocent cousin… Some will ask why we are talking about a story about my cousin. Someone who is not honest with policemen without a reason, is he going to be honest with you, even if it is through lawyers? Otherwise, for the rest, patience, it is coming…"

Meanwhile, sources close to the Pogba family have told the AFP news agency the gang in question had indeed asked for large sums of money to be released to prevent them from leaking allegedly compromising videos of him. France Info also obtained new details relating to the investigations. According to their report, Paul Pogba has told authorities that he was temporarily trapped by childhood friends and two hooded men armed with assault rifles. The gang reportedly demanded $13M from him and has persistently intimidated him.

The player also added that he been trailed by the gang since his Manchester United days and more recently, at the Juventus training center in Turin back in July. As per his admission, it was in Turin that he recognised his brother Mathias among those he accuses of harassing him. He subsequently went to his club's attorneys after this incident, and they chose to call the police.

More to follow...