French football player Paul Pogba claims to be victim of extortion gang

PARIS

French authorities on Monday confirmed that an investigation had been opened into charges, made by football player Paul Pogba, of attempted extortion allegedly committed by his childhood friends and older brother, according to local media.

The Paris prosecutor's office announced that the probe had been initiated on Aug. 3 into "extortion attempts in an organized gang," said a report by radio network FranceInfo news. Pogba, 29, plays for the French national football team and the Juventus football club.

The confirmation comes in the wake of a social media post by Mathias Pogba promising an explosive revelation about his star football player brother, his agent Rafaela Pimenta, and his France teammate and Paris-Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe on Saturday, Aug. 27.

The following day, Paul Pogba's lawyers said in a statement that he was receiving "threats and attempts at extortion in an organized gang."

According to FranceInfo, Pogba confided to investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime that he was trapped by a gang that included his childhood friends and Mathias. They demanded €13 million ($12.9 million) and intimidated him several times since, he alleged.

Pogba claimed in March that his friends forcefully took him to an apartment in Paris, where two armed men were present. His friends blamed him for not helping them financially since becoming a professional player and demanded he pay them €13 million ($12.9 million) for "services" and for protecting him discreetly for 13 years.

The football player also said he had seen his blackmailers in Manchester, UK, and his brother at the Juventus training center in Turin, Italy, after which he notified the club's lawyers on extortion threats.

The alleged blackmailers were reportedly going to reveal messages attributed to Pogba asking a marabout -- a Muslim religious leader in North Africa -- to cast "a spell," on his opponents and on his teammates, including Kylian Mbappe. Pogba denied the charges to the investigator, the report said.