Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who was arrested in France on charges of failing to curb illegal content on the app, is also being investigated by authorities for carrying out "acts of violence" against one of his children, news channel CNN reported. Russian-born Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport last week over alleged use of the app for child pornography, drug trafficking and money laundering.
The investigation against the 39-year-old was recently started by the French child welfare office over alleged acts of violence against his son, born in 2017, who currently resides in Switzerland with his mother.
Durov's former partner and the child's mother, Irina Bolgar, had lodged a complaint in 2023 in a Swiss court in Geneva. According to CNN, Bolgar had a relationship with the Russian billionaire from 2013 to 2022, during which the couple gave birth to three children. Bolgar and the children now live in Switzerland.
In her complaint, Bolgar alleged that Durov physically abused his youngest son multiple times between 2021 and 2022. In one instance, Durov even allegedly gave a death threat to his son, the complaint said. Due to Durov's treatment, the child suffered from anxiety, had episodes of bed-wetting (enuresis) and struggled to sleep.
Bolgar claimed that they separated at the end of 2018 and Durov "committed in writing" that he would pay 150,000 euros a month towards the maintenance of her and her children. "He gave two bank cards, allowing withdrawal of the said sum from his personal accounts," the complaint said.
Bolgar, however, claimed Durov had not seen his children since September 2022, and he had "blocked" the bank cards he had given her.
On Wednesday, Durov paid the bail amount of $5.56 million (5 million euros) to be released from police custody. However, he is required to stay in France under judicial supervision until the investigation is concluded.
