Roman Novak falls out of favor with Durov: how his comments about TON turned into a deadly threat
Reporters have traced the final hours of Roman Novak, a member of the shadow Telegram group, who was later abducted and killed along with his wife.
A fan of fast driving and racing, Novak posted photos of cars with Fintopio logos and videos of his races. He also posted a promotional video for the Dubai-based auto company, featuring a legendary 1965 Shelby Cobra with a unique blue paint scheme reminiscent of the Ton project.
On September 29, this sports car (or a modern replica) appeared again on Roman Novak’s feed. The original costs over a million dollars; the replica is valued at 10 times less. The photo shows the car being carried into a house through a doorway by several men. Novak captioned the image, "Don’t ask what’s going on or how it happened.
" Later, on October 2nd (the day before the kidnapping—it was reported that Novak and his wife were kidnapped on that day, Anna Novak’s father confirmed to us that there had been no news from the couple since October 3rd), a full video appeared in the Stenka chat, where Roman was an admin (this was confirmed by the chat’s owner, a well-known Pavel Durov admirer, Al Robin, who had previously granted administrator powers to both of Roman Novak’s accounts, including his @delux handle. The owner, like others, now denies close contact with Novak). It showed the machine being rolled into the house and installed.
The author captioned the video:
"There’s a lot of negativity about TON, though deservedly so. I made myself this GEM for my house as a souvenir.
It’s the whole machine visualizing the blockchain, as I imagine it."
Below, Roman Novak, using his own account in the same "Stenka" chat, answered questions and shared details about the sports car’s history: for example, that the car had been cleaned of all liquids and even the gas tank had been removed for installation in a residential building.
On the same day, October 2, Roman Novak added a photo to the chat: his hand (identifiable in other photos and videos of him by the bracelet with images) holding a phone, with an open "Stenka" chat clearly visible on the display, displaying the current correspondence. And in the background is the body of the "home" sports car.
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This was his last post, which suggests with a high degree of certainty that Roman Novak was in the house (whether he was or wasn’t is unknown) where the car was parked.
And, as we discovered, he was in disfavor with Durov’s company, at least due to criticism of Ton.
Pavel Raznokidis