In a surprising twist following the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the French authorities also issued an arrest warrant for his brother and Telegram co-founder, Nikolai Durov.
According to a recent report from Politico, this is still part of the ongoing investigation into the messaging app’s alleged lack of cooperation with a criminal inquiry.
Pavel Durov was detained last week at Paris’ Le Bourget airport. But it has now come to light that French authorities issued arrest warrants for both Pavel and Nikolai Durov back on March 25.
Based on previous reports, the core of the arrest revolves around Telegram’s refusal to cooperate with French police in an investigation related to child sex abuse. This lack of cooperation has led to increased scrutiny and legal actions against the app’s founders.
While Pavel is still in custody, Nikolai’s whereabouts are currently unknown, and French authorities are actively searching for him.
In addition, this event has affected Toncoin (TON), the telegram digital currency as it has dropped in value since the arrest. At the time of writing, the token now trades at $5.34, a 4% dip in the last 24 hours according to Coinmarketcap.
This decline also follows a recent issue with the TON blockchain, which was offline for nearly six hours due of surge in the nearly listed $DOGS token before returning to normal operations.