Investors of the Ton closed project demanded that Telegram return tens of millions of dollars, threatening by the court

Lawyers of the DA Vinci Capital Foundation sent the founder of the Telegram messenger Pavel Durov and other top managers of the intention to file a lawsuit against Telegram and Ton demanding damage in the amount of about $ 100 million. Forbes writes about this with reference to a source familiar with investors participating in a collective lawsuit. At the same time, sources close to Telegram confirmed the receipt of a letter, but noted that it says about the requirements for the amount of $ 20 million. It is possible that we are talking about several letters.

Investors' claims relate to the return of their funds invested in the project of the blockchain platform of Ton. Recall that in 2018, Telegram attracted $ 1.7 billion to launch their own blockchain platform and GRAM cryptocurrency, but the position of the American authorities forced the company to close the project , return the investors a significant part of the funds and pay fines. So far, the company has not completely paid off debts, and investors gave Telegram for two weeks, promising to file a lawsuit if Telegram does not pay the required amount.

“While the main place for the court is London, then other jurisdictions will be pulled up,” one of the interlocutors of the publication said. The co-owner of the Foundation, the managing partner of DA Vinci Capital, Oleg Zhelezko, refused to comment, and Telegram Vice President Ilya Perekopsky did not answer the Forbes question.

In recent months, rumors have appeared in the media that Telegram needs means and is looking for investors. In mid -February, it was reported that the company expects to attract $ 1 billion through bonds, and last week the VTIMES publication revealed the details of the Telegram plan with reference to the company's financial reports and other documents received by potential investors.

From the documents it follows that in 2018, Telegram losses amounted to $ 172.7 million, and in 2019 - $ 150.9 million. Over the years and the first half of 2020, the company also did not receive income from operating activities, although in the first half of 2020 the service recorded a profit of $ 151.3 million, but it became the result of a one -time income of 303 million, which was recorded as a result of reassessment of debt to creditors. The latter in the middle of 2020 was $ 625.7 million. At the same time, the presentation of Telegram states that out of $ 1 billion planned investments to repay debts in 2021, $ 684 million may go.

TELEGRAM plans to spend the remaining money remaining after the debt calculation from the issuance of bonds (approximately $ 326 million). So, 35% of the funds will be spent on the purchase of equipment, 25% - on the verification of users through SMS messages during registration, 15% for payments to employees and rental data centers, and another 5% for payments to providers of Internet traffic and technical support.

In mid -January, it was reported that the consortium of Western investors estimated the Telegram messenger at $ 30 billion and offered to acquire a share in the company, but Pavel Durov rejected this offer. At the end of December last year, the founder of Telegram spoke about Telegram monetization plans. Then Durov emphasized that all the existing Telegram services will remain free for users, and in addition to them the company will offer additional functions for business teams and users with advanced needs. Some of these functions will be paid due to its resource intensity. In addition, the messenger will launch its own advertising platform for channels, the owners of which are already earning on advertisements.

Investors' documents also say the possibility of monetizing the service by selling premium stickers, introducing games with the separation of advertising revenue into them with developers of these games, separating revenue with groups of groups, ready to publish advertising, launching a short video service with advertising integration and creating a sales platform.