Georgian prosecutors open case against parents of Ivanishvili’s ex-adviser
Ivanishvili’s ex-adviser case
According to Georgia’s prosecutor’s office, a criminal case has been opened against the parents of Giorgi Bachiashvili, former head of the Co-Investment Fund, who was convicted of laundering illicit income.
Prosecutors allege that Bachiashvili, once a financial adviser to Bidzina Ivanishvili, involved his parents in laundering 8,986.8675 bitcoins stolen from Ivanishvili. The penalty for aiding money laundering ranges from nine to 12 years in prison.
What the prosecutor’s office says
“As is publicly known, in 2015–2017 Giorgi Bachiashvili, who was the legal owner and manager of cryptocurrency belonging to Bidzina Ivanishvili, obtained through mining investments, failed to transfer to the investor the corresponding amount of virtual assets and unlawfully appropriated 8,986.8675 bitcoins belonging to Bidzina Ivanishvili, after which he laundered the misappropriated assets.
In the course of the ongoing investigation, it was established that Giorgi Bachiashvili involved his parents in actions necessary to launder part of the assets obtained through crime. <…>
As a result, between 2017 and 2023 Bachiashvili, with the help of his parents, laundered illicit income amounting to 2,944,957 US dollars and 1,097,187 lari.”
The Giorgi Bachiashvili case
On 27 May 2025 it emerged that Giorgi Bachiashvili, former financial adviser to Bidzina Ivanishvili and ex-head of the Co-Investment Fund, had been detained by Georgia’s State Security Service near the Georgian–Armenian border, where he had allegedly arrived of his own accord.
Georgia had been seeking him under an Interpol red notice, with Bachiashvili accused of embezzling up to $40 million. His international lawyers insist the case is a personal vendetta by Bidzina Ivanishvili and claim Bachiashvili was forcibly returned to Georgia.
The case against him was launched in 2023 following a complaint by Ivanishvili. Prosecutors charged him with stealing cryptocurrency worth up to $40 million. On 6 July 2023, Tbilisi City Court set bail at 2.5m lari.
On 2 March 2025 Bachiashvili secretly left Georgia. According to the State Security Service, at the end of May 2025 he re-entered the country illegally from Armenia, bypassing the border checkpoint in a car with a hidden compartment.
Bachiashvili has said he received death threats in Georgia, although he does not believe the order came directly from Ivanishvili.
Ivanishvili’s ex-adviser case
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