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| Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov |
The Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov has declared that he's donated sperms, and has biologically fathered more than 100 children. He said these children will inherit and distribute his billion dollars fortune which is estimated to $13.9bn (£10.3bn), he told LePoint Magazine.
Le Point is a French weekly news magazine based on Paris. It covers politics, economics, culture, technology, and international affairs. Le Point hosted Pavel Durov for an exclusive interview on June 12, 2025, at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris.
The session was conducted by Guillaume Grallet, Le Point's Tech and Sciences editor-in-chief, and was described as a high-stakes, in-depth discussion following months of negotiations and legal coordination due to Durov’s strict judicial control after his August 2024 arrest in France.
During the interview session, Durov also claimed that he legally fathered six (6) other children with three (3) different women and has biologically fathered over 100 additional children through sperm donations to a fertility clinic. He said "they are all my children and will all have the same rights".
In his statement with LePoint Magazine, Pavel Durov made it clear that he had his Will drafted out already. He said the reason behind writing Will as this early is because his job "involves risks" – as championing liberties attracts numerous adversaries, even among influential governments.
The 40 years old Founder is currently the CEO of Telegram which has over a billion active monthly users worldwide. According to him, "defending freedom earns you many enemies", his social media platform is known for focusing on privacy and encrypted messaging which governments are always criticizing and demanding for censorship.
This is one of the main reason he was arrested in France. He was arrested in 2024 after being accused of failing to properly moderate the app to reduce criminality. Speaking of which, he firmly stated that he rejects all allegations related to the serious criminal charges brought against him in France.
As part of the interview with Le Point, Durov strongly refuted claims of non-cooperation with authorities regarding drug trafficking, child sexual abuse material, and fraud, that labelled the accusations as "totally absurd."
He said that the use of Telegram by criminals, among other messaging platforms, does not implicate those who operate the service as criminals themselves. Additionally, Telegram has consistently rejected all assertions against the social platforms that its content moderation practices are inadequate, and not enough.
With that being said, as Pavel Durov has backed the distribution of his fortune among his over 100 children, Russian tech magnate, living in self-imposed exile, informed the Le Point that his children will not gain access to their inheritance for three decades (which is 30 years).
This decision was made by Pavel Durov himself as he has decided that his over 100 children will not be able to access their inheritance until 2055, 30 years from now, to encourage them to develop independence and ambition without relying on his estimated billion dollars fortune.
He said, "I want them to live like normal people, to build themselves up alone, to learn to trust themselves, to be able to create, not to be dependent on a bank account." Durov believes giving them access so soon can harm their character, and to prevent potential conflicts among them over the wealth, he has to restrict access for 30 years.
