Telegram founder Pavel Durov was released from police custody in France on Wednesday and transferred to court for questioning ahead of a possible indictment.
Durov, the Russian-born billionaire who was arrested over the weekend, left the anti-fraud office near Paris in what appeared to be a police vehicle on Wednesday afternoon, according to CNN.
French prosecutors said the 39-year-old tech mogul – who was in police custody for 96 hours, the maximum allowed under French law – was being transferred to a court in Paris to face “initial questions and a possible indictment”.
The judge will decide whether to place him under formal investigation after his arrest as part of an organized crime probe into the messaging app, a judicial source told Reuters.
The general investigation at this stage is directed against unspecified persons.
It focuses on suspected collaboration in crimes, including running an online platform that allows illegal transactions; possession of child sexual abuse images; drug trafficking; fraud; refusal to pass information to the authorities; and providing cryptographic services to criminals, prosecutors said.
Being placed under formal investigation in France does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to a trial, but it indicates that judges consider the case to have enough to continue the investigation.
Follow the latest on the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov:
Investigations can take years before they are brought to trial or shelved.
If Durov is placed under formal investigation, judges will also decide whether to remand him.
One factor they will consider is whether Durov is a flight risk. He holds French and UAE citizenship – and an estimated net worth of more than $9 billion.
Politico newspaper reported that French authorities had also issued an arrest warrant for Durov’s brother, Nikolai, a co-founder of Telegram, and that both warrants were issued in March.
Asked about the report, the Paris prosecutor’s office said the arrest warrants were covered by the secrecy of the investigation. He said that the only person being questioned was Pavel Durov.
Durov’s arrest has put a spotlight on the uneasy relationship between governments and Telegram, which has close to 1 billion users.
The messaging and social media app, which is known for its hermetic encryption technology that makes it virtually impossible for governments to breach, is widely used in France — including by some officials in the presidential palace and the ministry behind the Durov investigation .
But French investigators have also found that the app has been used by Islamic extremists and drug traffickers.
In a statement on Monday, Telegram said it complied with European Union laws and its moderation was “within industry standards and constantly improving”.
The company said its content moderation is “within industry standards and is constantly improving.”
“Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently to Europe,” he said.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform, or its owner, is responsible for the abuse of that platform.”
Durov’s arrest has sparked protests from free speech advocates, who say French authorities are cracking down on him after anti-government demonstrators used the app to coordinate their activities.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the decision to press charges against Durov was “in no way political”.
Telegram was launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother Nikolai.
According to Telegram, Pavel Durov supports the app “financially and ideologically while Nikolai’s contribution is technological.”
Before Telegram, Pavel Durov founded VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network – earning him the name of Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg.
The company came under pressure amid a Russian government crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests rocked Moscow in late 2011 and 2012.
Durov said government authorities asked VKontakte to destroy online communities of Russian opposition activists.
Later, it asked the platform to hand over the personal data of users who took part in the 2013 uprising in Ukraine, which eventually ousted a pro-Kremlin president.
Durov left Russia and went into self-imposed exile in 2014.
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