Telegram Billionaire, Who Was Arrested In France, Faces Unrelated Criminal Complaint In Switzerland

Forbes

Legal troubles are mounting rapidly for Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of Telegram.  The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office announced Wednesday that Durov has been formally indicted on numerous criminal charges connected to distribution of child sexual abuse material, selling narcotics, fraud, and money laundering.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/08/28/telegram-founder-pavel-durov-charged-with-multiple-crimes-in-france/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, Telegram billionaire, who was arrested in France, faces unrelated criminal

00:06complaint in Switzerland.

00:09Pavel Durov, the billionaire CEO and founder of messaging app Telegram, was arrested in

00:14France last weekend and charged Wednesday with a number of crimes related to illicit

00:19activity on his messaging app, including being complicit in managing an online platform to

00:24enable illegal transactions and not cooperating with law enforcement.

00:29Now it turns out, Durov is also a suspect in a criminal case in Switzerland, Forbes

00:34has learned.

00:36The case was filed by his former partner, Irina Bolgar, who claims to have three children

00:40with Durov.

00:42The criminal complaint in Geneva, filed in March 2023, alleges that Durov was physically

00:48violent towards one of his three children.

00:51Bolgar filed a civil child custody case shortly after.

00:55Both cases were submitted a few months after Bolgar alleges Durov stopped paying her 150,000

01:00euros, or about $167,500 per month, in child support, according to court filings.

01:08The Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office initially refused to enter the criminal complaint against

01:13Durov when it received it because it had been filed more than three months after the most

01:17recent instance of alleged physical violence.

01:21In May 2023, Bolgar appealed, and the court allowed the case to move forward last October.

01:27The case, which is ongoing, according to a Geneva court official, alleges that Durov

01:32harmed his youngest son, born in September 2017, five times between 2021 and 2022.

01:40The incidents allegedly resulted in injuries including a concussion and sleep disorders.

01:45Transcripts of messages purportedly exchanged by Bolgar and Durov in November 2021 in Paris

01:51were entered as evidence, as was a medical certificate from April 2023 attesting that

01:56the child continued to suffer from anxiety and had trouble sleeping due to the alleged violence.

02:03A representative for Durov declined to comment.

02:06A lawyer for Bolgar confirmed that Bolgar and her three children are involved in the

02:09civil case, but declined to comment on the criminal complaint.

02:13Because of Swiss laws, Durov, Bolgar, and their children are not named in the criminal

02:19But there are several identifying details that confirm Durov's identity, including his

02:23children's birth years, the case number of the civil child custody case, Durov's residence

02:28in the United Arab Emirates, and a reference to his net worth.

02:33Durov did not contest the child custody case, which was decided in Bolgar's favor in May

02:372023 and reaffirmed in February 2024, according to Bolgar's lawyer.

02:44Bolgar met the Telegram founder in 2012 when they were both living in Russia, according

02:48to what she wrote on social media.

02:51Six months later, they moved to St. Petersburg, where their three children were born between

02:552013 and 2017.

02:58According to her Instagram, she and Durov lived together in St. Petersburg until 2017.

03:03Durov founded Telegram in 2013 and claimed that he left Russia in 2014 after refusing

03:09to provide data on users of his social media site VK to Russian officials.

03:15Durov later gained French citizenship and moved to Dubai in 2017.

03:19He is also a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and St. Kitts and Nevis.

03:24Worth an estimated $15.5 billion, Durov lives in a luxury five-bedroom villa on a 15,000

03:31square foot property in Dubai's Jumeirah Islands, which he rents for about $1 million a year.

03:38Bolgar and Durov never married.

03:40Because children born outside of marriage were not legally recognized in the UAE at

03:44the time, Bolgar and their three children stayed in Russia, according to one of Bolgar's

03:48Instagram posts.

03:50According to the criminal case, Durov and Bolgar separated at the end of 2018, and Durov

03:55committed in writing that he would pay Bolgar monthly child support of €150,000.

04:02Forbes Russia verified the authenticity of the children's paternity documents with the

04:06Geneva-based translator used by Bolgar when she moved to Switzerland.

04:10Forbes also viewed photocopies of the documents and their translations, which state Durov's

04:15full name and date of birth, including his middle name and place of birth.

04:20While Durov has yet to acknowledge these three children, he posted on Telegram in July that

04:25he is more than 100 biological children from donating his sperm.

04:30For full coverage, check out Phoebe Liu and Giacomo Tognini's piece on Forbes.com.

04:37This is Ciaran Meadows from Forbes.

04:39Thanks for tuning in.

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