The custody of Telegram boss Pavel Durov for twelve organized crime offences has been extended until Wednesday, according to a source close to the case.
The 39-year-old Franco-Russian billionaire was taken into custody as part of a judicial investigation opened, after a preliminary inquiry, by the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco), on July 8 and relating to twelve offenses, detailed Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau in a press release.
Complicity in offences and crimes
The investigating judges in charge of the case have entrusted the investigations to the Center for the Fight against Digital Crime (C3N) and the National Anti-Fraud Office (Onaf). The courts accuse him of not communicating the information necessary for the interceptions authorized by law, 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.
The arrest of the Telegram president on French territory (on Saturday at Le Bourget airport), which sparked numerous international reactions, “took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide,” Emmanuel Macron had specified on X.