The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia announced it charged the parents of Giorgi Bachiashvili, currently in jail on charges of embezzling cryptocurrency from Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, on allegations of helping launder up to USD 3.5 million of the illegally acquired funds.
The charges follow a criminal probe into the laundering of 8,987 Bitcoins, worth roughly USD 1 billion at today’s prices, that the court found Giorgi Bachiashvili, a former associate of Bidzina Ivanishvili, had embezzled from the billionaire. Earlier in September, prosecutors also froze the assets of Bachiashvili’s parents, including bank accounts and assets “purchased during and after Giorgi Bachiashvili committed the crime.”
“The ongoing investigation has found that Giorgi Bachiashvili has also involved his parents in the actions necessary to legalize part of the criminally obtained assets,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in its September 29 statement.
Prosecutors allege that Bachiashvili’s parents helped launder his assets by transferring funds from abroad into Georgia, depositing them in their own accounts and those controlled by Bachiashvili, commingling them with other assets, purchasing and later selling properties, and moving the money to accounts under Bachiashvili’s control, aiding the final placement, layering, and integration of the funds. Prosecutors say these actions helped conceal and disguise the assets’ original nature, source, location, placement, circulation, and ownership.
“As a result, between 2017 and 2023 Giorgi Bachiashvili, with his parents’ help, legalized illicit income of USD 2,944,957 and GEL 1,097,187 [USD 407,000] derived from criminally obtained assets,” prosecutors said.
Bachiashvili’s parents were charged under Articles 25 and 194-3(c) of the Criminal Code, which cover laundering particularly large sums of money, an offense punishable by 9 to 12 years in prison.
Bachiashvili is serving an 11-year prison sentence after being convicted of embezzling a large sum of cryptocurrency from Ivanishvili and laundering it. He was arrested in May following what he said was his abduction from abroad involving State Security Service head Anri Okhanashvili. The alleged abduction followed his escape from Georgia in March, when Bachiashvili cited “credible information” suggesting his life would be in danger if imprisoned.
In July, Bachiashvili reported being beaten in jail. Prison authorities later suggested that prison staff, inmates, and Bachiashvili himself may have coordinated the incident, a controversy that led to the resignation of Georgia’s Special Penitentiary Service chief, Bezhan Obgaidze.
The money-laundering investigation comes as the ruling Georgian Dream party tightens anti-corruption laws, including measures that bar individuals convicted of financial crimes from leaving the country until restitution is made and allow recovery of embezzled funds from the convict’s relatives.
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