Three more children want to become heirs to Pavel Durov's billions

Russian-born dollar billionaire Pavel Durov has been officially recognized as the father of five biological children, Forbes magazine reported , citing documents. Until now, only two of the businessman's future heirs were known. The founder of VKontakte and Telegram himself announced four days ago that he was a sperm donor and is the father of 100 children.

Forbes was contacted by lawyer Irina Bolgar, who sent the editorial office copies of three birth certificates, certificates of recognition of paternity, and notarized translations of these documents into English and French. The documents show that Durov and Bolgar had a daughter, Leia, in 2013, a son, Daniel, in 2016, and David in 2017.

The authenticity of the documents was confirmed to the magazine's journalists by Alexandra Voulier, a member of the Swiss Association of Interpreters and Translators (AIT), who translated the documents.

Irina Bolgar told Forbes that she met Pavel Durov in 2012, and six months later they began living together. In 2014, the businessman left Russia. In 2018, Bolgar reportedly followed Durov from St. Petersburg to Dubai. However, she was unable to obtain a residence permit in the United Arab Emirates, as the children were born out of wedlock. In 2020, Bolgar moved to Switzerland with her three children.

Bolgar and Durov have not lived together "for the last few years." However, according to Bolgar, she and the children often met with him and went on trips together. According to the mother, she was pushed to publicly reveal the father's name by her children - her daughter and sons asked why only Durov's two other children were written about on the Internet.

In 2021, Forbes included Alina and Mikhail Durov, born in 2009 and 2010 respectively, in its ranking of the richest heirs of Russian businessmen for the first time. Their mother is Durov's former classmate Daria Bondarenko. Bolgar assured the magazine that she knows Alina and Mikhail, but has never met Bondarenko.

On June 26, 2024, Bolgar started a second Instagram page, posting photos with her children and signing their last name with the hashtag #durov. On July 24, the Telegram channel "Antiglyanets" drew attention to her account. The authors of the channel published screenshots of Bolgar's page, drawing attention to the children's last names.

On July 29, Durov wrote on his Telegram channel that he has a hundred biological children. 15 years ago, the billionaire claimed, he was first persuaded to participate in sperm donation. Since then, this “high-quality donor material” has been given to more than a hundred families in 12 countries, Durov said. The businessman did not mention Bondarenko’s or Bolgar’s children in his post.

On the same day, Irina Bolgar posted her first photo with her children and a story about Pavel Durov’s fatherhood on her other personal Instagram page, which she then repeated to Forbes magazine.

The day before the Forbes publication, a photo of her with her children appeared on Bolgar's "children's Instagram page" with the caption "3 vs 100." And on the day of the magazine's publication, the woman posted the first and so far only photo of herself, her three children, and Pavel Durov.

Two lawyers interviewed by Forbes, a man and a woman, independently named the billionaire's fortune as the main reason for the appearance of Bolgar and the children in the public space. "The goal here is purely material, which could not be achieved in non-public communication with Durov, amicably, peacefully and secretly," the male lawyer suggested. Perhaps the children's mother asked Durov for more money or guarantees, and he refused, the lawyer admitted.

Forbes estimated Durov's fortune at $15.5 billion. The businessman is ranked 120th on the list of the world's richest people. Each of Durov's acknowledged children could lay claim to $3.1 billion, according to the magazine's estimate.

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