Telegram founder Pavel Durov under formal investigation with bail set at $5.56 million, prosecutor says

Telegram founder Pavel Durov is under formal investigation and will not be allowed to leave France, a French prosecutor said in a statement released Wednesday night.

The Russian-born billionaire is being investigated for several suspected offenses related to criminal activity on the platform, including complicity in illegal gang transactions, “laundering of crimes in an organized gang,” and refusal to communicate information to authorities, according to the French prosecutor’s statement.

He must remain in the country under judicial supervision, with a bail set at $5.56 million (5 million euros), and is required to report to the French police station twice a week.

Durov was released from police custody in France earlier in the day and transferred to court for questioning, prosecutors told CNN, days after his dramatic arrest at a Paris airport.

The formal investigation announced Wednesday evening does not imply guilt in the French legal system, but indicates that prosecutors believe there is enough of a case to merit a serious official investigation. He has not yet been formally charged.

Wednesday’s prosecutor’s office statement added that the French National Office for Minors has reported to the prosecutor’s office the “near absence of response” from Telegram to court requests concerning offenses that include trafficking, online hate speech, and pedophilia crimes.

The suspected acts being probed include “complicity in the administration of a platform enabling an illegal transaction in an organized gang,” an offense that can carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.