Billionaire Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France is not his only legal trouble. He’s also subject to a criminal complaint in Switzerland, Forbes has learned.
The Geneva Court of Justice initially refused to enter the criminal complaint against Durov when it received it because it had been filed more than three months after the most recent instance of alleged physical violence. In May 2023, Bolgar appealed, and the court allowed the case to move forward last October. The case—which is ongoing, according to a Geneva court official—alleges that Durov harmed his youngest son, born in September 2017, five times between 2021 and 2022. The incidents allegedly resulted in injuries including a concussion and sleep disorders; transcripts of messages purportedly exchanged by Bolgar and Durov in November 2021 in Paris were entered as evidence, as was a medical certificate from April 2023 attesting that the child continued to suffer from anxiety and had trouble sleeping due to the violence.
A representative for Durov declined to comment. A lawyer for Bolgar confirmed that Bolgar and her three children are involved in the civil case but declined to comment on the criminal complaint. Because of Swiss laws, Durov, Bolgar and their children are not named in the criminal case, but there are several identifying details that confirm Durov’s identity including his children’s birth years, the case number of the civil child custody case, Durov’s residence in the United Arab Emirates and a reference to his net worth. Durov did not contest the child custody case, which was decided in Bolgar’s favor in May 2023 and reaffirmed in February 2024, according to Bolgar’s lawyer. It’s unclear if he has hired an attorney in the criminal complaint. Bolgar’s lawyer told Forbes she also filed a civil child support case against Durov in June 2024, which remains ongoing.
Bolgar met the Telegram founder in 2012, when they were both living in Russia, she wrote on social media.
