Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested Saturday evening in France after stepping off his private jet.
Local media said the reason for his arrest was related to crimes committed by the popular messaging app.
Citing unnamed sources, TF1info broke the news on Saturday evening, claiming that Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport, located northeast of Paris.
Although he holds French and UAE passports, the Russian embassy said it had taken “immediate measures” to clarify the situation.
According to media sources, Durov’s arrest was strongly linked to “suspicious” activities of the messaging app he runs. Some of the crimes you could face are the following: terrorism, narcotics, complicity, fraud and money laundering.
It’s worth noting that Toncoin, which has a strong history and current relationship with Telegram, plummeted after the news.
TON went from $6.75 to less than $5.5 in less than 12 hours. Data from CoinGecko shows that the asset is currently down 19% on a daily basis.
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