Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former head of the Co-Investment Fund founded by former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, has been released from prison following a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Bachiashvili was initially charged in July 2023 with embezzling 8,253.13 bitcoins valued at about $39 million at the time, as well as laundering illicit proceeds. Prosecutors alleged that the cryptocurrency was linked to a project connected to Bidzina Ivanishvili. In March 2025, Tbilisi City Court sentenced him in absentia to 11 years in prison in the cryptocurrency case.
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office said Bachiashvili had fully admitted his guilt in all criminal cases against him, cooperated with investigators and compensated for damages. Under the agreement, he received a one-year suspended sentence and a fine of 50,000 lari ($18,700). He had already served approximately nine months in detention.
He was also convicted of illegal border crossing and sentenced to additional four years and six months, bringing his total sentence to more than 15 years.
In a separate case related to the Mtkvari hydropower plant project, prosecutors accused him of failing to properly perform his duties, resulting in significant financial losses. That charge carries a potential prison term of two to five years.
In March 2025, Bachiashvili left Georgia while on trial, later stating that he had done so due to security concerns. In May, the State Security Service said he was detained near the Armenian-Georgian border and returned to Tbilisi. Bachiashvili claimed he had been abducted from abroad and forcibly brought back. Authorities denied wrongdoing.
Prosecutors also dropped charges against Bachiashvili’s parents, who had previously been accused of assisting in money laundering.
Bachiashvili served as chief executive of the Co-Investment Fund from 2013 to 2019 and later chaired its advisory board. His legal proceedings have now formally concluded under the plea agreement.
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New Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said Iran should continue ‘blocking the Strait of Hormuz’ in his first statement since his election, read out on Iranian State television on Thursday (12 March).
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