Pavel Durov, a 39-year-old Franco-Russian citizen, was arrested this Sunday, the 25th, upon landing from a private jet in France. Durov is the founder and CEO of Telegram and was detained as part of a preliminary investigation.
The magnate, who has been referred to as the ‘Mark Zuckerberg of Russia’ for his work in the social media market, is currently accused of various crimes, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and promoting terrorism. The list was revealed by a source linked to the case to the news agency AFP.
The main suspicion, however, is that Durov did not take measures to prevent the use of Telegram for criminal purposes. In Brazil, the platform faced a shutdown due to similar accusations in 2023. At that time, the platform refused to cooperate with investigations into a wave of attacks on schools.
Fortune
Durov is a programmer and, in addition to Telegram, has created other platforms. The most well-known is VKontakte, or VK. This network is the most popular in Russia and has numerous users in neighboring countries, such as Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
Founded in 2006, the VK network was under his command until 2013 when it was sold to Russian businessmen more closely linked to Vladimir Putin. Durov and the politician, by the way, have a history of disagreements. In 2011, Durov refused to delete message groups managed by Putin’s opponents. This refusal made him a kind of persona non grata in the country, prompting Durov to leave Russia in 2014 out of fear of being arrested.
He began to live in European countries and also in the United States, where he created Telegram. The idea for Telegram, he revealed, came precisely after these episodes of disagreements with Putin. He claims he needed a secure means to communicate with his brother and friends after being targeted by a police operation.
Currently, Telegram has about 900 million active users. Its current headquarters is in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, where he currently resides. The success of his venture has led to Durov’s fortune being estimated at 15.5 billion dollars or 85 billion reais by Forbes.
Children
Durov reported on his official Telegram channel that he has more than 100 biological children in 12 different countries. He has been donating sperm around the world after a friend reported fertility issues. According to the message sent on his channel, he plans to ‘open his DNA’ in the future so that the children can meet each other.