Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been placed under judicial supervision, according to a press release from the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Le parquet de Paris annonce que le patron de Telegram, Pavel Durov, a été mis en examen et placé sous contrôle judiciaire. Il a l’obligation de pointer au commissariat 2 fois par semaine et interdiction de quitter la France. pic.twitter.com/HPxU5PEqtZ
— Jacques Pezet (@Jacques_Pezet) August 28, 2024
The Telegram founder faces charges for six offenses:
- administering an online platform for illegal transactions (punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a €500,000 fine);
- refusal to cooperate with authorities;
- money laundering as part of an organized group;
- providing cryptographic services for confidentiality without mandatory declaration;
- complicity in distributing hacking programs, distributing images of child pornography by an organized group, drug distribution, and complicity in fraud by an organized group;
- illegal provision and import of cryptographic means.
Durov has been released under judicial control with a bail of €5 million and is required to report to the police twice a week. He is prohibited from leaving France.
Following this, the TON token’s price briefly plummeted to $5.1 before slightly recovering.
On August 24, French authorities detained Durov at Le Bourget airport as part of an investigation opened on July 8 against an “unidentified person” under 12 articles.
The charges include illegal provision of cryptographic services, refusal to cooperate with law enforcement, complicity in distributing child pornography, facilitating drug trafficking, and organized crime activities.
According to Politico, French authorities issued an arrest warrant for Pavel and his elder brother Nikolai on March 25 for ignoring law enforcement requests.
On August 28, false information about Durov’s release spread within the crypto community. A letter in his support garnered over 2.5 million signatures.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, French and UAE intelligence services hacked the iPhone of the Telegram founder in 2017 as part of an operation codenamed “Purple Music.”
Analysts at Galaxy Research believe that Durov’s arrest is unlikely to be the last major detention of a company leader “for failing to adequately control their platform.”