Franco-Russian billionaire Pavel Durov, head of the encrypted messaging service Telegram, arrested Saturday evening at Le Bourget airport, was released from police custody and transferred early Wednesday afternoon, August 28, to the Paris courthouse with a view to a possible indictment, according to a source close to the case.
The French justice system accuses it of not taking action against the dissemination of criminal or offending content on Telegram, which has more than 900 million users. This is something the company denies.
Accompanied by his bodyguard and his assistant, the 39-year-old Russian billionaire founder of the courier company was arrested Saturday evening in the Bourget airport terminal (north of Paris) under a French search warrant, then taken into custody. Pavel Durov was arriving from Baku and was due to spend at least the evening in Paris, where he had planned to have dinner.
Offences related to “organized crime”
He was arrested as part of a judicial investigation opened against unknown persons on July 8 and led by specialized investigating judges in Paris, after a preliminary investigation by the cybercrime section of the Paris prosecutor’s office. It targets in particular the “refusal to communicate the information necessary for interceptions authorized by law”, the complicity in offenses and crimes that are organized on the platform (drug trafficking, child pornography, fraud and money laundering in organized gangs) and “the provision of cryptology services aimed at ensuring confidentiality functions without a proper declaration”. Offenses related to “organized crime”. The investigations are entrusted to the center for the fight against digital crimes (C3N) and the national anti-fraud office (Onaf).
If he were charged and his provisional detention requested, a judge of liberties and detention would have to decide at the end of the day whether to incarcerate him or place him under judicial supervision.