2011 June
George Bachiashvili was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Unicor Management Company, a holding company overseeing Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Russian assets.
2012 October
Bachiashvili was invited to meet Ivanishvili for the first time. After being elected Prime Minister, Ivanishvili appointed George as the Deputy CEO of JSC Partnership Fund – Georgia’s first sovereign wealth fund, focusing on public investments in infrastructure, energy, and utilities.
2013 September
The Georgian Co-Investment Fund (GCF) was launched with Bachiashvili as its CEO. GCF became the largest private equity firm in Georgia, supported by a $2 billion capital commitment from Ivanishvili.
2014 January
Bachiashvili was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list. The Forbes description reads: “The brightest stars in 15 different fields under the age of 30 are founders and funders, brand builders and do-gooders who aren’t waiting for traditional career advancements. Their ambitions are larger and perfectly suited to the dynamic, entrepreneurial, and impatient digital world they grew up in. This is an exhilarating time to be young and ambitious.”
2014 May
Bachiashvili founded Mission Gate, a global venture capital firm that invests in technological startups worldwide.
2015 May
Bachiashvili identified a personal investment opportunity in blockchain space. Through Mission Gate, he decided to invest all of his personal capital—$1.5 million—and secured a $5 million loan from Cartu Bank to enter into a mining contract with Bitfury Global. Ivanishvili showed no interest in cryptocurrency mining, and no partnership or equity arrangement was discussed.
2015
In 2015, Bachiashvili was notified of a margin call from Credit Suisse regarding Ivanishvili’s investment portfolio. This eventually led to the discovery of an alleged extensive fraud conspiracy by Credit Suisse financial adviser Pascale Lescaudron. Bachiashvili was tasked with leading an international legal team to address the alleged fraud, gathering evidence, and serving as a key witness. This pivotal event gained widespread global media attention, and Bachiashvili’s central role as a strategist in the litigation is believed to have caused changes in the relationship between the two businessmen.
2016
Bachiashvili fully repaid the $5 million loan to Cartu Bank, with 12% interest.
2022 April
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bachiashvili posted a series of social media messages criticizing the war. In April 2022, he received a threatening phone call from Ivanishvili, who warned him, “You had better behave, or I’ll show you how I dealt with criminals in Russia.”
2023 May
Ivanishvili’s legal team won a landmark court ruling in Singapore, along with another victory in Bermuda, ordering Credit Suisse to pay nearly $1.5 billion to settle the fraud allegations. Bachiashvili played a crucial role as the chief strategist and key witness in both cases.
2023 June 10th
Bachiashvili was summoned by the Prosecutor’s Office for questioning. Believing he was appearing as a witness, he endured over 24 hours of questioning without his rights as a defendant, during what appeared to be a fishing expedition. When the questioning became adversarial, he requested a lawyer and was forced to hand over his phone.
2023 July 6th
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office indicted Bachiashvili in relation to the 2015 cryptocurrency investment, with Ivanishvili claiming that the funds had been “invested on his behalf,” despite clear evidence of a Bank loan agreement. In a press release, Bachiashvili’s lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, stated, “It is our firm belief that these charges are not based on factual findings or serious investigation but are instead the result of a politically motivated prosecution.”
