Court Orders Giorgi Bachiashvili to Return 9,000 Bitcoins to Bidzina Ivanishvili
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, May 2, 2025
A Georgian court has ruled in favor of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the Georgian Dream party, ordering Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former CEO of the Co-Investment Fund, to return 9,000 bitcoins. The ruling follows Bachiashvili's criminal conviction for misappropriating a significant amount of cryptocurrency belonging to Ivanishvili.
According to Ivanishvili's lawyer, Teimuraz Tsikvadze, the court fully upheld their claim through a simplified procedure. "The court fully granted Bidzina Ivanishvili's lawsuit," Tsikvadze stated. "It established that Bachiashvili misappropriated up to 9,000 bitcoins, and if these bitcoins cannot be returned in kind, then his personal property will be seized based on the market value of bitcoin at the time of enforcement." The ruling includes immediate enforcement of the decision and sets a seven-day window for appeal.
Tsikvadze emphasized that the civil court based its decision on the outcome of the earlier criminal case, where Bachiashvili was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in prison. The charges included large-scale misappropriation and money laundering.
However, Bachiashvili's legal team disputes the legitimacy of the court's handling of the civil case. His lawyer, Sopo Kurtauli, argued that the case should not have been reviewed under a simplified procedure, especially given that the criminal verdict has not yet exhausted the appeal process. "The court had no right to consider the case in a simplified manner; the case should have been considered as a common lawsuit," Kurtauli stated. She confirmed that Bachiashvili plans to challenge the decision in the appeals court.
The dispute centers on an unprecedented amount of cryptocurrency. At current market rates, 9,000 bitcoins represent a value of several hundred million U.S. dollars, making this one of the most high-profile cryptocurrency-related legal cases in Georgia to date.
