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Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been arrested in France, according to reports. And there is now a betting market tied to all things Durov.
The Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody, three sources told Reuters.
The arrest of the 39-year-old technology billionaire, estimated to be worth $15.5 billion, prompted a warning from Moscow to Paris that he should be accorded his rights and criticism from X owner Elon Musk who said that free speech in Europe was under attack.
There was no official confirmation from France of the arrest, but two French police sources and one Russian source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Durov was arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a private jet from Azerbaijan.
Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police, a third French police source said.
A cybersecurity gendarmerie unit and France's national anti-fraud police unit are leading the investigation with Durov faces possible indictment on Sunday, according to French media.
Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he has sold.
The encrypted application, with close to one billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat.
Durov came up with the idea of an encrypted messaging app as a way to communicate while he faced pressure in Russia.
After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered content.
Telegram says it "is committed to protecting user privacy and human rights such as freedom of speech and assembly."
Durov has previously accused U.S. law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of seeking to get a backdoor into the platform. The FBI has not commented on those allegations.
Polymarket began offering the new betting market on Durov Sunday morning. The gambling site does not accept bets from the U.S. BetOnline is widely expected to begin offering a betting market on Durov shortly. BetOnline does take bets from the U.S. where Telegram is also a popular app.
As of Sunday morning, just 36% of those betting this market were backing a release of Durov by week's end. The amount wagered had not yet been disclosed.
Reuters was used for this report.
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