According to a report from the reputable French news site TF1, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested in France and detained by agents of the French National Anti-Fraud Agency.
Durov was reportedly arrested after traveling from Azerbaijan to Paris’ Le Bourget Airport with a woman and a bodyguard. The airport only serves private jets. According to reports, Durov was the subject of a search warrant by OFMIN, France’s investigative agency for combating child sexual exploitation, following a preliminary investigation.
The news article noted that billionaire Durov rarely travels to Europe, possibly in an attempt to avoid being detained in this way. The news site noted that the warrant for his arrest is valid only on French soil. “He made a mistake tonight. I don’t know why… Was this flight just a transit point? Either way, he’s stuck,” a source told TF1 in French.
TF1 predicted that Durov would likely face an investigating judge on Saturday night before being arraigned on Sunday on “…multiple criminal charges: terrorism, drugs, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen property, pedophilia” and other charges.
“Pavel Durov will almost certainly face pre-trial detention… He allowed countless crimes and illegal activities to be committed on his platform, without any intervention or cooperation,” an investigator from France’s National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF), which detained Durov, reportedly told the news site.
The price of Telegram Native Token is: Toncoin 
ton
-13.63%
As of the time the news was reported, it had plummeted by about 12%.
This is a story in development. French translation provided by Anthropic’s Claude AI model.
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