The arrest warrants for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov and his brother, co-founder Nikolai Durov, were issued by French authorities months earlier than initially suspected.
In the latest revelation, the arrest warrants for the brothers behind the viral messaging app Telegram were first issued in March 2024, according to French administrative documents seen by Politico.
The news comes hours after reports that Durov’s phone was hacked by French and United Arab Emirates spies back in 2017, due to the UAE’s concern over the use of Telegram to recruit operatives and plan attacks.
The Telegram CEO’s phone was hacked a year before he met with French President Emmanuel Macron to reportedly discuss Telegram’s move to Paris.
Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport north of Paris after landing in a private jet from Azerbaijan on Aug. 24.
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Durov’s arrest warrant issued due to refusal to cooperate with authorities: Politico
The arrest warrants against Durov and his brother were reportedly issued due to Telegram’s refusal to cooperate with a previous investigation.
French authorities received “no answer” from the messaging platform related to an earlier judicial inquiry requesting to identify a Telegram user.
The warrants included charges such as “complicity in possessing, distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group,” according to the document seen by Politico.
The warrants came after the Paris prosecutor’s office’s cybercrime unit discovered a suspect using the messaging app to lure girls into sending “self-produced child pornography,” which he threatened to release on social media.
The arrest warrant cited that “numerous criminal groups” are using the messaging app.
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Telegram bonds fall 10% following Durov’s arrest
Telegram Group Inc’s 7% 2026 bonds saw a sharp decline following the CEO’s arrest.
Telegram Group Inc 7% bonds. Source: TradingView
Telegram bonds fell over 10.3% since Aug. 14 to trade at $87.2 as of 12:41 pm UTC, according to Finra data.
Telegram has raised more than $2 billion worth of bonds, including a $330 million oversubscribed round in March of this year. During the company’s most recent bond issuance, Durov said Telegram was “hoping to become profitable this year” in anticipation of a future public listing.
Based on the latest funding round, the bond’s current yield is more than 7%, and maturity is set for 2026 or when Telegram goes public, whichever comes first.
While Durov is yet to be charged, the arrest could indicate a troubling assault on developers of privacy-preserving technologies, according to Nikolay Denisenko, co-founder and chief technology officer of the financial app Brighty, who shared his views with Cointelegraph:
“This of course raises concerns about potential government overreach and the broader implications for digital privacy. Either way, user security should always be top of mind, both in terms of privacy and protection from malevolent actors or illicit activity.”
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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.