Georgian Prosecutor’s Office freezes assets of former Co-Investment Fund Head’s parents in money laundering probe

The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office on Saturday announced that bank accounts belonging to the parents of Giorgi Bachiashvili - the former head of the Co-Investment Fund - as well as assets purchased by him during and after the commission of his crimes, have been frozen as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation.

The body added the decision was made based on a court order within a criminal case separated from the main investigation into Bachiashvili.

The Prosecutor’s Office recalled that on March 10, the Tbilisi City Court found Bachiashvili guilty of large-scale misappropriation of cryptocurrency and money laundering. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, a ruling later upheld by the Tbilisi Court of Appeals.

Court proceedings confirmed that after misappropriating 8,986.86 bitcoins, Bachiashvili concealed the illicit origin of the assets through a series of financial operations, allowing him to disguise their source and freely use them. Prosecutors said he later purchased, owned, and transferred various assets personally and through affiliated individuals and companies, effectively laundering large sums derived from the misappropriated cryptocurrency.

The Prosecutor’s Office added the investigation continued to determine whether Bachiashvili’s relatives and other individuals were involved in the scheme.