The CEO of popular messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been barred from leaving France and ordered to pay a staggering €5m bail.
Durov was detained by French authorities on Saturday and placed under formal investigation for his company’s alleged role in facilitating illegal activities, including child sex abuse and drug trafficking.
He was charged by French authorities on Wednesday with multiple charges, including complicity in managing a platform used for illegal transactions and failing to cooperate with law enforcement.
According to the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, Telegram has been linked to various serious crimes, and the company has shown a lack of cooperation with investigators, especially when it comes to drug trafficking, money laundering and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
As a result, Durov has been placed under formal investigation and has been released with certain conditions, including reporting to a police station twice a week.
The arrest warrants for the brothers behind the viral messaging app Telegram were first issued in March 2024, according to French administrative documents seen by Politico.
The warrants included charges such as “complicity in possessing, distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group,” according to the document.
The warrants came after the Paris prosecutor’s office’s cybercrime unit discovered a suspect using the messaging app to lure girls into sending “self-produced child pornography,” which he threatened to release on social media.
The suspect also told the investigators he had raped a young child, according to the document. Telegram did not respond to the French authorities’ request to identify the suspect.
Nikolai Durov’s current location remains unknown.