Telegram CEO indicted in France

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was indicted on Wednesday.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg, and said a French court indicted the executive on charges including organizing or enabling illicit transactions.

A previous press release from Aug. 26 lists the charges Durov is facing, including complicity in offering and selling narcotic substances and distributing child pornography. Durov, as the CEO of Telegram, faces the accusations.

French authorities also allege that Durov didn’t aid investigations.

The earlier press release also says that Durov has already faced interrogations from the French investigators.

Durov, who was arrested in France last week, was placed under judicial supervision. He had previously been in police custody. He is unable to leave France at this time.

The press release also claims that the judicial investigation was opened in early July. A report from Politico on Wednesday claims that French authorities have also sought an arrest warrant for Durov’s brother, Nikolai Durov.

Durov’s arrest over the weekend led to Telegram-linked Toncoin slipping nearly 20%. The network has also faced multiple outages, including one earlier Wednesday.

The outage “appears to be due to heavy load attributed to DOGS token minting. TON Core is working on a solution,” Toncoin said.

Loading Tweet..

Block production had yet to restart at time of publication.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.