Former financier of Georgian Dream founder pleads guilty and is released
Georgi Bachiashvili, the former financier of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgia's ruling party, and the former head of the Georgian Co-Investment Fund, has fully admitted his guilt in all criminal cases and paid compensation for the damages caused. This was announced by the Georgian Prosecutor's Office.
According to the agency, Bachiashvili signed a plea bargain agreeing to a fine and a suspended sentence. He left the penitentiary today.
As a reminder, the State Security Service of Georgia arrested Giorgi Bachiashvili last May. He was charged with embezzling cryptocurrency from Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream, and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Additionally, the former financier was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for illegally crossing the state border.
Giorgi Bachiashvili was also charged with "improper performance of official duties, resulting in grave consequences" in the case of the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Mtkvari River. The relevant article carries a prison sentence of 2 to 5 years.
Bachiashvili's trial began in 2023, when Ivanishvili accused him of embezzling nearly $40 million in cryptocurrency. The defendant was banned from leaving the country, and bail was set at 2.5 million lari. It is noteworthy that the financier had long been considered one of Ivanishvili's closest associates.
In early March 2025, it became known that Bachiashvili had secretly fled Georgia, and on March 10, he was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison and placed on the wanted list. On May 1, the court ordered Bachiashvili to pay Bidzina Ivanishvili approximately 9,000 bitcoins, equivalent to more than $850 million at the time.
The fugitive was arrested at the end of May. On May 29, at a court hearing, he shared details of his return to the country. According to Bachiashvili, he was kidnapped from abroad, "held blindfolded for two days, then loaded onto an Airzena Airlines plane and brought back to Georgia." His lawyers claimed he could be subjected to torture in his home country.
