Plea Deal Frees Georgian Fund Manager Accused of Stealing $40M in Bitcoin

A Georgian-Russian investment manager has been released under a plea deal after admitting to embezzling nearly $40 million worth of Bitcoin from former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili's banking firm Cartu.

The fund manager, Giorgi Bachiashvili, had initially fled the country in March 2024 but was arrested at the border with Azerbaijan shortly after. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but a plea deal reduced his sentence to one year suspended term and ordered him to pay a $19,000 fine.

The case drew attention due to Ivanishvili's influential role in Georgian politics and the scale of the alleged theft, which is considered one of the largest cryptocurrency embezzlement cases tied to a sitting political figure.