The Court is expected to hear the case of Giorgi Bachiashvili’s [former associate of Bidzina Ivanishvili] parents today. The Prosecutor’s Office has initiated criminal proceedings against them on charges of aiding in the legalization of illegal income.

Bachiashvili’s parents are not in Georgia and the charges were brought against them in absentia.

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 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.

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”, - reads the statement.

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.

Giorgi Bachiashvili is serving an 11-year prison sentence after being convicted of embezzling a large sum of cryptocurrency from Bidzina Ivanishvili and laundering it.