billionaire Pavel DurovCo-founder and CEO of messaging application Telegram, was arrested on Saturday (24 August) at Le Bourget airport in Paris after disembarking from his private jet, according to French media outlet TF1 information reported (h/t the New York Post).
Durov, 39, a self-proclaimed Russian exile, was arrested at around 8 p.m. local time after flying to Paris from Azerbaijan. French authorities issued a search warrant as part of a preliminary investigation into the billionaire and his Telegram app, which has over 900 million active users worldwide, but it was not valid until Durov landed on French soil.
Claiming that the application was complicit in incidents related to drug trafficking, pedophilia and fraud due to its lack of moderation and the tools it offered, such as cryptocurrencies, law enforcement authorities responded promptly after Durov entered the country.
“He made a mistake tonight. We don’t know why… Was this flight just a stopover? In any case, he is in custody,” said a source familiar with the investigation. TF1.
Durov, best known as the founder of Telegram and VK (VKontakte), lives in Dubai and holds dual citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France. AssetsThe Russian billionaire fled his home country in 2014 after refusing to hand over encrypted user data to authorities or silence anti-Kremlin communities. He later sold the popular application a year after launching it.
