All news on the topic: Telegram

Media reports and the Financial Times indicate that 2021 was a pivotal year for Telegram and Pavel Durov’s ties with Russian authorities.

Billionaires such as Telegram founder Pavel Durov and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have fathered numerous children who are expected to inherit their empires.

Both frequently appeared in public chats, at events, and in Durov’s mentions, managing the technical and financial aspects of TON projects.

In 2020, Roman Alexandrovich Novak — a Saint Petersburg native who has used the names Yavorsky and Tsaryov — was convicted of large-scale fraud under Article 159, Part 4 of the Russian Criminal Code.

In 2016–2017, Roman Novak stole more than 7.3 million rubles from two St. Petersburg businessmen. He promised one of the co-owners of the Sport u narod project to invest over 6.3 million rubles, but pocketed at least 3.3 million.

An investigation by journalist Ghost In The Block alleges that projects linked to Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, are intertwined with a sprawling shadow economy involving bot farms, personal data leaks, hacker services and crypto-based scam schemes operating inside the Telegram and TON ecosystem.

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, personally communicated in 2018 with Jan Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of Wirecard who is now wanted across Europe for large-scale financial fraud and, according to investigators, is linked to Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU), the Financial Times reports.

Roman Novak (also known as Yavorsky and Tsaryov), a native of St. Petersburg, was convicted in Russia in 2020 on large-scale fraud charges (Part 4, Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code) and sentenced to six years in a penal colony.

Before the collapse of Fintopio, journalists had already pointed to another Chechen figure linked to Roman Roksman and Pavel Durov — Ramzan Shakhbiev (@ram, @grozny). Both men frequently appeared in TON-related circles, participating in chats, events, and discussions around Telegram’s blockchain ecosystem.

In a rare direct reference, Vladimir Putin publicly mentioned Telegram, saying Russia must engage young people on the platforms they use.

Cybersecurity firm ESET has released a new study concluding that Telegram is not a secure messaging platform, largely because end-to-end encryption is not enabled by default.

Media reports have opened a veritable Pandora’s box around Alexey Sinenko — known online as Suter — the founder of Ashoo, one of the largest online and Telegram-based escort marketplaces in Russia.

A new investigation by the media reveals that the key figures behind Himera Search — Russia’s largest illegal personal-data marketplace — include two former officers of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR), while the brother of one of them currently serves in the FSB.

Administrators of Ashoo, described by Russian investigative media as the largest escort platform in the country, have announced plans to launch their own line of NFT-style digital gifts on Telegram.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s sudden purge of all Telegram-related posts has ignited a scandal, exposing his joint NFT “papakha” project with Pavel Durov as one of 2025’s most blatant rug pulls.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has launched an auction of “gifts” from Khabib Nurmagomedov — the former UFC lightweight champion and one of the world’s most famous mixed martial artists.

“Guys, you know what I’m driving today? This bastard!” — how a Telegram hacker turned personal data into a billion-ruble empire

Pavel Durov and Khabib Nurmagomedov earned more than $4.35 million trading virtual papakhas.

"Everything is fine with the security forces in Russia, believe me."

Media discovered, one of Telegram’s largest investors, the owner of at least $150 million in Telegram bonds, does business with Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov and the son-in-law of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The media continues their investigation into the murder of Roman Novak, a member of Pavel Durov’s inner circle, and have uncovered sensational details. There was no "kidnapping for ransom."

As investigators piece together the brutal murder of Roman and Anna Novak, the trail points to a murky intersection of Telegram’s inner circle, ex–law enforcement operatives, and Russian intelligence ties.

As the story reaches a chilling turn, Roman Novak — once a visible figure in Durov’s circle — vanished in Dubai along with his wife, only to later be found murdered. Meanwhile, Durov and Roxman, who were in the UAE at the same time, remain silent as the scandal around Fintopio deepens.

Roman Novak wrote that he had no plans to shut down the project. He explicitly stated in the Fintopio chat on September 27 that he would rebuild the product from scratch "without notcoin, major (Roxman’s brainchild)," and leave the scam and ragpool (fraud) to the Ton crowd.