Telegram founder Pavel Durov faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted – Telangana Today

Durov was travelling in his private jet when he was arrested at around 8pm local time, TF1 TV reported. An arrest warrant was reportedly issued against the 39-year-old in France as he flew out of Azerbaijan.

Paris: Russian-born Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the popular encrypted messaging app Telegram, has been arrested in France on several charges related to his platform and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

According to multiple reports, he was arrested on several charges, including allegedly spreading criminal activity on Telegram, a network of around 900 million active users.

The billionaire lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and holds dual citizenship of France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The businessman, worth at least $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to ban opposition communities on his social media platform VKontakte.

As of August 25, Durov was the 120th richest person in the world. In 2022, he was named the richest expat in the United Arab Emirates by Forbes magazine.

He reportedly obtained citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis after leaving Russia by donating $250,000 to the country's Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation and securing $300 million in cash from Swiss banks.

This allowed him to focus on founding his next company, Telegram. In January 2018, Durov announced that to monetize Telegram's growing success, he would launch the cryptocurrency “Gram” and the TON platform. In total, $1.7 billion was raised from investors.

However, its crypto ventures were halted by US regulators. In 2018, Russia tried to block Telegram after the company refused to cooperate with Russian intelligence services.

Durov was arrested by the French anti-fraud authority at Le Bourget airport outside Paris immediately after he disembarked from his private jet. His arrest followed an arrest warrant issued by the French National Criminal Police as part of a preliminary investigation.

He is due to appear in court on Sunday. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Telegram did not immediately respond to the development. The Russian embassy in France is taking “immediate steps” to clarify the situation.

Durov and his brother Nikolai founded the messaging app in 2013 and it has about 900 million active users.

Telegram offers end-to-end encrypted messaging, and users can also set up “channels” to quickly spread information to followers.