Pavel Durov is an ascetic. At least that’s how he likes to present himself. Asked in late August about his income while in police custody, the co-founder of the Telegram messaging system – which promotes a life without coffee, alcohol, meat, dairy products or drugs, accompanied by morning ice baths and meditations in the desert – told investigators that he only earned “1 dirham” Emirates per year. That’s less than 25 euro cents. Enough to leave your interlocutors perplexed.
Because, despite paying himself a near-zero salary, Telegram’s CEO is a multimillionaire. In addition to the approximately 300 million euros he earned in 2014, Thanks to the sale of his shares in the Russian social network VKontakte, Mr. Durov owns all of Telegram’s shares, valued by various investment funds at almost 30 million euros. One billion dollars (about 27 billion euros), according to Durov financial times, in March. However, in the same interview he admitted that his messaging service, which was scheduled to go public within a year, was not yet profitable. Enough to fuel the vagueness about his personal financial resources, estimated between $9 billion and $15.5 billion, according to sources.
However, the magnitude of his fortune – and especially the funds he can mobilise quickly – is a key element in the process of justice. At the end of his police detention on 28 August, the courts had to set bail for Durov, who holds French, Russian and Emirati passports, of a sufficient amount to guarantee that he would not flee French territory. The billionaire had just been charged with twelve offences related to Telegram’s virtual lack of cooperation with the judicial authorities in cases of fraud or the dissemination of child pornography images.
Auction in Dubai
According to our information, the Paris prosecutor’s office requested that bail be set at 20 million euros, accompanied by the usual judicial control measures, such as regular reporting to the police station, the obligation to stay in France and to declare changes of ADDRESS. The judge ultimately lowered the sum to 5 million euros. During a rare interview with American conservative presenter Tucker Carlson in April, Durov explained that he did not own any property and kept his personal fortune in several banks and in cryptocurrencies.
Despite the vagueness about his fortune, the 5 million euros guarantee seems very low in view of the invoices and testimonies collected by The worldIn 2023, Durov had bid a higher amount (around 8.5 million euros) to try to obtain a personalised number plate at a charity auction in Dubai, where he has mainly resided since 2019. But he did not get it. His offer was rejected by an anonymous buyer.
You have 64.95% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
