Paris Court: Durov is accused of 6 crimes and a judicial investigation into Telegram has been launched
On August 29, according to the official website of the Paris Court, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was prosecuted for all crimes mentioned in the introductory indictment, including:
· Organized group conspiracy to manage online platforms for illegal transactions (crimes punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros);
· Refusing to provide information or documents upon request of an authorized agency;
· Conspiracy to commit a crime, including providing programs or data intended to destroy automatic data processing systems without justifiable reasons, organized distribution of images of minors, trafficking of illegal drugs, organized group fraud, conspiracy or illegal acts for the purpose of committing a crime;
· Organized group crimes and illegal money laundering;
· Providing encryption services under a non-compliant framework;
· Providing encryption means without fully ensuring identity authentication or integrity control functions.
Pavel Durov will be subject to judicial supervision, provide a bail of 5 million euros, an obligation to report to the police station twice a week, and is prohibited from leaving France.
The court said that Telegram's previous almost complete lack of response to legal requests had attracted the attention of the Cybercrime Unit (J3) of the JUNALCO (National Jurisdiction against Organized Crime of the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office), in particular OFMIN (National Office for Minors). The preliminary investigation began in February 2024 under the guidance of the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office and coordinated by OFMIN. Based on the introductory indictment of July 8, 2024, the judicial investigation was launched. The investigating judge entrusted the C3N (National Gendarmerie Cyber Force) and ONAF (National Anti-Fraud Customs Office) to continue the investigation.
