Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who is being held in France on charges of failing to stop illegal activity on his social media app, has been ordered to leave his youngest son by the mother of his three children. He faces charges of physically abusing him, withholding financial support and leading acts of violence. A secret double life.
Mr Durov's partner of 10 years, Irina Bolger, a trained lawyer, filed a criminal complaint in Switzerland last year alleging that Mr Durov punched her then 3-year-old son so hard that it sent him flying “across the room.” I did it. According to Forbes.
Bolger filed a separate complaint earlier this year alleging that Durov stopped paying child support. A Geneva prosecutor's spokeswoman said the investigation was ongoing. The New York Times reported separately on Thursday..
Mr Bolger has since launched a social media campaign to back up his claims with “evidence”. She has shared about 10 posts on Instagram in the past week. Carousel slideshow depicting Durov and his children It is accompanied by a bittersweet love song and a long caption criticizing Durov.
The Russian billionaire, who has a net worth of $15.5 billion, according to Forbes, was arrested in Paris in August. He was later indicted on charges related to drug trafficking, distributing child sexual abuse material and allegedly failing to prevent the promotion of terrorism by infiltrating the encrypted messaging app Telegram.
This lawsuit is the first time a major platform creator has been held accountable for the spread of illegal content through their platforms.
Durov has portrayed himself as a staunch defender of free speech, refusing to hand over encrypted messages of Ukrainian users to the Kremlin. Some supporters, including former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, denounced the arrest as an attack on free speech.
Irina Bolger, described as Durov's partner of 10 years, said: “Durov's carefully constructed image as a champion of freedom crumbles when faced with his private life.” told the New York Times.
Bolger, a trained lawyer from St. Petersburg, said: “This case reveals the stark contrast between his public freedom declarations and his private actions.”
Bolger said she and Durov lived a lavish lifestyle. He lived a life of luxury, staying at a 116-acre resort in Sardinia for $1 million a month, traveling to Paris, Italy and Monaco on a private plane, and living in a seaside penthouse in Dubai with a private elevator.
Bolger said he met Durov in St. Petersburg in 2012. She said the two bonded over a shared interest in yoga and became romantically involved during a trip to Dubai.
They returned to Russia and lived together at the W Hotel before moving into an apartment near his company's headquarters.
Bolger welcomed her first child in late 2013.
But Durov said their relationship was purely transactional, not romantic.
“MS. Mr. Bolger, who was Mr. Durov's yoga coach at the time, suggested to Mr. Durov that they try to have a child together,” a spokesperson for Mr. Durov told The New York Times in a statement. “He agreed and three children were born.”
Durov fled the country after he sold his stake in his first social media app, Vkontakte, known as Russia's Facebook, and the Kremlin demanded he hand over encrypted data on his platform.
However, a few months later he returned with Bolger.
“When we decided to go back to Russia, I asked him, 'So you said you didn't want to go back to Russia, and now you have the opposite intention. 'He said, 'Why don't you go back to Russia?''' she told The New York Times.
Mr Durov's spokesman said he had never hidden his return to Russia.
Bolger then began to suspect that Durov was living a double life with a secret second family. When she asked about reports about another family member in 2014, he denied the allegations.
But Bolger said she discovered the truth when the couple's personal driver delivered holiday presents to older children from another family.
Durov became obsessed with wealth and public image, she claimed.
He allegedly told her he considered staying in a $20,000-a-night Dubai hotel because he had “made tens of millions in easy money in Bitcoin.”
Bolger said Durov asked a friend who runs a swimsuit modeling agency to take photos for social media.
He reportedly told Bolger to “come see how the people on the Forbes richest list live” and even sent her a photo of him holding a rented lion cub. It is said that
A spokesperson for Mr. Durov said the billionaire has “consistently criticized the lavish lifestyles of the ultra-wealthy and advocates creating rather than consuming.”
According to court filings, Durov became mentally and physically abusive in 2021, hitting his 3-year-old son in April, then hitting and shaking him again in November.
According to the lawsuit, the son suffered a concussion and suffered from bedwetting and nightmares for months afterward.
Mr. Durov asked Mr. Bolger to move to Dubai, but Mr. Bolger claimed that he refused due to concerns about UAE law that could give Mr. Durov custody of the child.
She claimed Ms Bolger threatened to go to the police in the fall of 2022 and terminated her financial support over Mr Durov's actions, which she did in November 2022.
Durov said in 2022 that Bolger misused credit cards linked to bank accounts, including splurging on high-end clothing and jewelry.
The dispute between the two men spilled over to social media, with Durov claiming he had more than 100 children because he was a sperm donor.
“We must always remain responsible for our children,” Bolger wrote on Instagram. “That's the difference between a sperm donor and a parent.”
Durov's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
