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Telegram CEO offers to buy stolen Louvre jewels, return them to museum — on one condition
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has offered to buy the jewels stolen from Paris’ Louvre Museum and return them
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has offered to buy the jewels stolen from Paris’ Louvre Museum and return them — but only to the museum in Abu Dhabi. The Russian tech billionaire argued that the stolen treasures would be safer in the UAE than in France.
His offer came days after four gang members pulled off a daring daylight heist at one of the world’s most famous museums, making off with jewels worth an estimated $102 million. The four suspects behind the heist — one of the most audacious in recent history — remain at large.
Durov slams French authorities
Commenting on the Louvre Paris heist, Durov said he wasn’t surprised.
On the social media platform X, the Telegram founder wrote: “Not at all surprised by the Louvre heist. It’s another sad sign of the decline of a once great country — where the government has perfected the art of distracting people with phantom threats instead of confronting the real ones.”
An offer to buy the jewels
Durov later added: “Happy to buy the stolen jewelry and donate it back to the Louvre. I mean Louvre Abu Dhabi, of course; no one steals from Louvre Abu Dhabi.”
The remark was widely interpreted as a sarcastic jab at the difference in security between European museums and those in the Middle East. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is a prominent art museum in the UAE, created in partnership with France’s famed Louvre in Paris.
How the heist unfolded
The robbery took place on October 19 in the Apollo Gallery, where eight pieces from the Royal Collection were stolen. The items included jewels once owned by Empress Eugenie and Empress Marie-Louise.
French authorities suspect organised crime. According to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, the thieves entered through a window using a ladder mounted on a lift truck, cut the glass with an angle grinder, and fled on scooters.
The stolen pieces, valued at roughly 88 million euros ($102 million), include an emerald necklace with earrings, two crowns, two brooches, a sapphire necklace, and a single earring. The Paris prosecutor’s office said the four suspects operated in two pairs, escaping within minutes.
(Also read: After $102 million heist at Louvre museum in Paris, where the stolen jewels might end up)
