The private life of Telegram’s founder adds to his troubles

During the summers, they would walk astir $1 cardinal for a period astatine a 116-acre edifice successful Sardinia. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, they stayed successful a beachside penthouse with its ain elevator. Private planes ferried them to Paris, Italy and Monaco.

But thing changed during that period, according to Bolgar, who is present entangled successful a ineligible quality with Durov. She said helium morphed from a principled entrepreneur whom she admired into an progressively arrogant, controlling and yet abusive adversary.

According to a Swiss transgression ailment Bolgar made past twelvemonth against Durov, helium abused their youngest lad 5 times successful 2021 and 2022. On 1 occasion, Durov struck the kid successful the back, sending him crossed the room, she said. In another, helium shook him truthful hard, the boy’s shoes came off. Later, helium grabbed the kid by the limb and said helium would termination him.

The details are included successful nationalist documents related to the transgression case, which was antecedently reported by Forbes. The files bash not database the names of Durov, Bolgar and the children, but determination are a fig of identifying factors, including the lawsuit fig for a civilian kid custody ailment made by Bolgar.

A spokesperson for prosecutors successful Geneva confirmed that an probe was underway but declined to remark further. Durov’s spokesperson said successful a connection that the incidents “never occurred” and that the accusations “lack substance.”

Bolgar, successful a four-hour interrogation successful Geneva, wherever she present lives with the 3 children she had with Durov, said she could not elaborate connected the kid maltreatment charges due to the fact that of the investigation. But she provided different details astir their relationship, which present threatens to further complicate Durov’s already important ineligible troubles successful Europe.

In France, Durov faces transgression charges related to the dispersed of illicit contented connected Telegram successful a lawsuit that rocked the tech world. It is 1 of the archetypal examples of a antiauthoritarian authorities holding a apical societal media person criminally accountable for what was dispersed connected their platform.

French authorities detained Durov successful August aft helium landed adjacent Paris connected a backstage level from Azerbaijan. Prosecutors person accused Durov, an outspoken defender of escaped code and privacy, of crimes including enabling the organisation of kid intersexual maltreatment material, cause trafficking and fraud. He could look years successful prison.

Bolgar’s allegations see unpaid kid support, according to the documents related to the transgression complaint. That could mean that adjacent if Durov finds a mode to flooded the charges successful France, helium faces further ineligible occupation elsewhere.

Her account, on with the lawsuit she filed against him, besides opens a model into the rarefied beingness of the highly backstage Durov, who remains 1 of the world’s slightest understood tech magnates. Although Telegram has amassed astir 1 cardinal users, Durov has avoided the aforesaid benignant of scrutiny directed astatine his peers successful Silicon Valley. Guessing the loyalties of the Russian-born entrepreneur has go a parlor crippled among the tech cognoscenti of Russia, wherever Telegram dominates.

“The cautiously crafted representation of Durov arsenic a defender of state collapses erstwhile faced with his idiosyncratic life,” said Bolgar, a trained lawyer primitively from St. Petersburg, Russia. “It reveals a stark opposition betwixt his nationalist declarations of state and his backstage actions.”

Durov’s spokesperson said that Bolgar and Durov had “never been a couple” and that she laid idiosyncratic assertion to millions of dollars helium provided arsenic kid enactment and spent profligately connected luxury goods and different extravagances.

“Mr. Durov has galore children, and helium supports each of them arsenic astatine a complaint of $10,000 per period per child,” the spokesperson wrote successful a statement. “Mr. Durov present hopes that the Swiss justness strategy volition resoluteness this quality truthful that the funds misappropriated by Ms. Bolgar tin beryllium utilized for their intended purpose: supporting the children.”

Bolgar denied misusing wealth she received from Durov.

His comments contrasted with grounds of their narration provided by Bolgar, including receipts for lavish vacations; a notarized papers promising up to 150,000 euros per period successful fiscal support; years of photos that see the mates smiling connected a backstage jet, celebrating birthdays and spending clip unneurotic successful Italy, the UAE, Russia and different locales; arsenic good arsenic different materials.

A erstwhile worker of Durov, who saw the 2 unneurotic often from 2013 to 2018, described a loving mates who lived successful an flat successful cardinal St. Petersburg. The person, who declined to beryllium identified retired of fearfulness of retribution, reported seeing Durov springiness lavish gifts to Bolgar, including Cartier jewelry.

Swiss prosecutors person not decided whether to bring ceremonial charges against Durov. A kid extortion tribunal successful Geneva, however, suspended Durov’s close to idiosyncratic interaction with the children aft Bolgar’s complaint. Making a mendacious transgression ailment is amerciable nether Swiss instrumentality and tin transportation a situation word oregon a fiscal penalty.

The spokesperson for Durov said that helium became alert of the charges this summertime and that helium had hired lawyers to “present the existent facts to the Swiss authorities.”

Bonding Over Yoga

Bolgar, 44, said she met Durov, 39, done a person successful the summertime of 2012 successful St. Petersburg. She said their relationship bloomed implicit a shared involvement successful yoga. Things turned romanticist connected a wintertime vacation astatine the Burj Al Arab edifice successful Dubai. She described him arsenic charming and said she was impressed by his libertarian views.

When they returned to Russia, Bolgar said, they lived unneurotic astatine the W Hotel successful St. Petersburg earlier getting an flat wrong walking region of his company’s headquarters. At the extremity of 2013, she had their archetypal child.

According to Durov, the narration was transactional. “Ms. Bolgar, who was Mr. Durov’s yoga manager astatine the time, suggested to Mr. Durov that they person children together,” his spokesperson said successful a statement. “He agreed, and 3 children were born.”

In the ensuing years, Bolgar said, their continuing romance afforded her a ringside spot arsenic Durov’s vocation took off. When helium began gathering what would go Telegram successful 2013, she said, the 2 texted each different connected an aboriginal mentation of the app. She shared pictures of Durov from this time, astir ever dressed successful black, hunched implicit a laptop oregon phone.

In 2014, Durov sold his involvement successful his archetypal societal media company, VKontakte, claiming helium was near with nary prime aft Russian authorities demanded entree to idiosyncratic information that helium refused to crook over. As a result, helium said, helium would permission the country. The communicative would go an anecdote Durov often repeated to trumpet his committedness to privacy.

Bolgar described the information arsenic much complicated. After respective months extracurricular Russia, Durov returned to the state with Bolgar, contempt his nationalist disavowals, she said. The 2 resumed a beingness unneurotic successful St. Petersburg.

“When we decided to travel backmost to Russia, I asked him, ‘So you said you would similar not to travel backmost to Russia, but present you person the other intention.’ He said, ‘Why not travel backmost to Russia?’” she said.

The spokesperson for Durov said that helium lived chiefly extracurricular Russia aft 2013 but that helium had ne'er concealed returns to the country.

Bolgar said Durov was not ever truthful. When she asked him astir a quality study successful 2014 that said Durov had a abstracted family, helium denied it. Later, Bolgar learned the information erstwhile the couple’s operator brought a container of presents to observe the caller twelvemonth that seemed to beryllium for Durov’s different family.

“The operator mixed up the lists and brought the gifts for older children,” she said.

Durov has often projected an ascetic persona. But Bolgar said helium enjoyed the opulent lifestyle. In 1 connection to her, helium mused astir the outgo of a $20,000-a-night Dubai edifice and which suite to enactment in.

“I tin bash it due to the fact that I made tens of millions of casual wealth connected bitcoins,” helium told her.

He besides focused connected his image, she said, obsessing implicit fittingness and having a person who owns an bureau representing swimsuit models instrumentality photos of him for societal media. He told her to “come spot however radical connected the Forbes affluent database live” and, different time, sent her a representation of him holding a rented babe lion.

Durov’s spokesperson disputed that Durov lived thing different than an austere life. “Mr. Durov has been consistently captious of the extravagant lifestyles of the ultrawealthy and advocates for creating alternatively than consuming,” the spokesperson said.

Pressing Charges

Durov’s behaviour changed successful 2021, Bolgar said. He became psychologically abusive toward her and began to lash retired astatine their children.

“Either you bash everything my mode and past you person the motivation close to complain, oregon you bash everything your ain mode and don’t complain,” Durov said successful 2021.

In April that year, helium struck his son, who was 3 astatine the time, knocking him “across the room,” according to Bolgar’s connection to the police. In November 2021, successful Paris, helium struck the kid again and shook him violently. As a result, the kid suffered a concussion and, for respective months, experienced bed-wetting and nightmares, according to the complaint.

Around this time, Bolgar said, Durov began asking her to determination to Dubai. She refused. She said she was acrophobic astir laws successful the UAE, wherever Durov had go a citizen, that could springiness the him rights to instrumentality custody of the children.

The past clip they saw each different was September 2022. She warned him that if helium did not alteration his abusive behavior, she would spell to the police. He threatened to chopped disconnected fiscal support. He did, starting successful November 2022, she said.

In 2022, Durov said helium discovered that Bolgar had abused the usage of cards linked to his slope accounts by spending respective cardinal dollars connected luxury apparel and costly jewelry. Durov, according to his spokesperson, “believes that the show of excessive wealthiness is particularly harmful to children, arsenic it often diminishes their information and originative drive.”

Bolgar, present moving arsenic a task manager, said Durov had ne'er complained astir her spending habits.

In March 2023, she went to a constabulary presumption successful Geneva to marque the authoritative ailment against Durov.

“Why I didn’t bash it before? It was rather hard for maine to marque a ailment against the idiosyncratic who I spent 10 years of my beingness with,” she said. “It was immoderate interior obstruction successful my caput I had to leap implicit to spell to police,” she added.

The Geneva Public Prosecutor’s Office initially declined to judge her ailment due to the fact that it was made much than 3 months aft the astir caller convulsive episode. A tribunal allowed the lawsuit to determination guardant aft she appealed. This year, Bolgar besides brought a civilian kid enactment lawsuit against Durov successful Switzerland, which seeks astir 125 cardinal Swiss francs (about $145 million).

In caller months, their quality spilled onto societal media. In July, aft Bolgar made her archetypal nationalist comments astir Durov being the begetter of their children, helium posted that helium had much than 100 children crossed galore countries arsenic a sperm donor.

Bolgar responded connected Instagram by posting a representation with herself and the 3 children. “We indispensable ever enactment liable for our children,” she said. “That’s the quality betwixt a sperm donor and a parent.”

This nonfiction primitively appeared successful The New York Times.