On Friday, September 15, French soccer star Paul Pogba and five of his acquaintances and childhood friends were interviewed as part of an ongoing investigation. They are suspected of being involved in an extortion attempt against Pogba that took place in March 2022. This questioning occurred at the Paris criminal court and is a significant development in the investigation, which began following a break-in at Pogba’s home in March 2022. This incident was just one of several challenges Pogba has faced recently, including a temporary suspension due to doping.
During the March 2022 break-in, two intruders held Pogba, who is 30 years old, against his will and demanded 13 million euros (equivalent to $14 million at today’s exchange rates). There are conflicting accounts of what transpired that night between the five men, who are charged with armed extortion and criminal conspiracy, and Pogba, who is a World Cup winner.
Notably, Pogba’s older brother, Mathias, who was accused of pressuring Paul to pay the demanded sum over several months but denies involvement, was not present at the court on Friday.
In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Paul Pogba remarked, “The only people who can hurt you are the people who are close to you. They’re the ones who can destroy you.”
The investigating magistrate will review the different versions of events provided by the suspects during their interrogations, as documented by AFP.
Key details, such as who attended a dinner on the night of March 19, whether Pogba was forcibly relocated to another apartment that same night, and whether his phone was confiscated or simply turned off as a “habit” among the group of friends, remain uncertain. The method by which the intruders gained access to Pogba’s living room is also unknown.
Among the five suspects, three are childhood friends of Paul Pogba, while the other two are individuals with whom he was acquainted from their neighbourhood. A police summary of the case, as seen by AFP, describes them as “a criminal team composed of childhood friends, along with an individual with a confirmed criminal profile, Roushdane, with the goal of extorting 13 million euros from Paul, who had cut off financial support to them at the start of the year.”
All five suspects have denied their involvement during individual questioning. Roushdane K., one of the main suspects, claimed that he feared for his safety, portraying himself as a “victim” and stating that he had been threatened over Pogba’s failure to pay.
This questioning of Pogba comes shortly after he received a provisional suspension for a doping violation. The Italian anti-doping authority, NADO, reported elevated testosterone levels in his tests. Since returning to Juventus in July of the previous year, Pogba had only participated in one match due to a severe knee injury sustained during preseason.
