Pavel Durov, head of the Donetsk "republic" Alexander Zakharchenko (killed in 2018), and Serhiy Kurchenko. Collage: Important Stories

Companies involved in importing and selling coal and metal from the occupied east of Ukraine were among Telegram investors. Important Stories noted that in 2018, Stiron B.V., a company registered in the Netherlands, invested €10 million in Telegram Open Network (TON).

Stiron B.V. and the related ME Property Invest have bought coal and metal from the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which companies controlled by Serhiy Kurchenko exported.

In 2011-2013, Kurchenko was the focus of shadow financial flows associated with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his eldest son Oleksandr.

After the Yanukovychs – and Kurchenko – fled to Russia in early 2014 as a result of the Maidan Revolution, Kurchenko, under the protection of the Russian FSB, took over shadow operations related to large coal and metallurgical enterprises in the parts of eastern Ukraine that Moscow seized effective control over in 2014-2015.

Kurchenko got control of the most powerful enterprises in the occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but they were soon brought to a standstill: they were not paid for the products they supplied, and their employees’ salaries were delayed for months or not paid.

Important Stories have not managed to find out the ultimate owners of Stiron B.V. and ME Property Invest. However, the journalists noted that Stiron B.V. received funds to invest in TON as a targeted loan from two British and one Czech companies, all of which had signs of fictitiousness.

Among them is the already liquidated Commercial Standard Systems, registered in Edinburgh, which is also known to be involved in the export of coal from the occupied east of Ukraine.

Important Stories noted that Telegram founder Pavel Durov managed to raise a total of $1.8 billion for TON, largely from Russian oligarchs and even from an alleged fraudster and Russian agent from Vienna, Jan Marsalek. Telegram refused to comment on this fact.

Instead, Telegram told Important Stories that Durov had returned “all the money invested” to investors after he had problems with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which led to a court order.

According to Important Stories, “when Pavel Durov had problems with the US regulator, he began to travel to Russia actively, despite the fact that he had previously publicly stated several times that he did not visit his homeland due to pressure from the authorities. …Immediately after one of these visits to Russia in June 2020, Durov signed a settlement agreement with the SEC and pledged to return $1.2 billion to investors and pay a fine of almost $20 million.”