The billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was reportedly detained at Bourget Airport near Paris on Saturday evening, according to French news outlets TF1 and BFM TV.
Durov, who was travelling on his private jet from Azerbaijan, was arrested under a French warrant related to a preliminary police investigation into Telegram’s alleged role in facilitating criminal activities, reports Reuters.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment.
TF1 said Durov had been travelling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 20:00 (18:00 GMT).
In separate news, Bitcoinnews.com said Durov, the 39-year-old Franco-Russian, was accompanied by a bodyguard and a woman at the time of his arrest by the Air Transport Gendarmerie.
Durov’s arrest followed his arrival from Azerbaijan and was executed under a French search warrant by the OFMIN of the French judicial police, due to his inclusion in the wanted persons file (FPR). The warrant was activated solely upon his presence on French soil. A source close to the investigation told the news outlet, as translated by Google:
“He made a blunder this evening. We don’t know why… Was this flight just a stopover? In any case, he’s in custody!”
Durov has been detained by the National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF). French authorities accuse Telegram of facilitating crimes such as terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and fraud, among others. A source familiar with the investigation further told the French news outlet:
“On his platform, he allowed an incalculable number of offences and crimes to be committed, for which he did nothing to moderate or cooperate”, it added.
The price of toncoin (TON) plummeted following the news. As of writing, TON is trading at $5.76, down 13% from earlier today.
In a related development, American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson expressed his views on X, noting the irony that Durov, who once defied the Russian government’s attempts to control his platform, has now been detained by a Western country.
He posted, “Pavel Durov left Russia when the government tried to control his social media company, Telegram. But in the end, it wasn’t Putin who arrested him for allowing the public to exercise free speech.
“It was a western country, a Biden administration ally and enthusiastic NATO member, that locked him away.
“Pavel Durov sits in a French jail tonight, a living warning to any platform owner who refuses to censor the truth at the behest of governments and intel agencies. Darkness is descending fast on the formerly free world”.
Atomic Wallet on its website linked the TON ownership to the Durov brothers, 16 August 2024 piece titled, “What is Toncoin (TON)”.
“In 2018, the Durov brothers, Nickolai and Pavel, aimed for an effective blockchain to support the massive users on Telegram. Along these lines, they launched a GRAM project after a total sum of $1.7 billion (about $5 per person in the US) was raised through a private ICO.
“After the money had been raised, the main components of the blockchain, together with the white paper, were developed. In 2019, the Ton network, previously known as Gram, was launched as a test in preparation for the main launch”, it wrote.
Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Russian-born Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.
Durov, who Forbes estimates to have a fortune of $15.5 billion, said some governments had sought to pressure him, but the app, which now has 900 million active users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics”.
