The lawyer of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of “Georgian Dream,” Temo Tsikvadze, has issued a statement.
“I would like to inform the public regarding the interest expressed by some foreign media representatives concerning the case of the unlawful appropriation of bitcoins belonging to the injured party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, by Giorgi Bachiashvili, as well as the legalization of illegal income.
On this matter, as Bidzina Ivanishvili’s representative, I was contacted by Daniel Boffey, a journalist from The Guardian, and Philip Shishkin (a so-called freelance journalist), who, according to his own statement, was preparing an article for The New York Times.
Unfortunately, in both cases, it is evident that these individuals are hired by Bachiashvili or his family, acting out of mercenary interests and simultaneously attempting to establish false narratives among their readers regarding the disputed issue, aiming to discredit my client, the injured party, Bidzina Ivanishvili. This further deepens suspicions that, beyond pursuing their mercenary interests, these journalists or media outlets are fulfilling or promoting additional agendas and interests that have a longer history and deeper roots than Bachiashvili’s criminal activities.
This is directly confirmed by Mr. Daniel Boffey’s latest attempt at communication with me. Specifically, on September 12, 2025, at the end of the working day, I received an email from Daniel Boffey (sent at 5:00 PM, which I personally reviewed later), containing several abstract and baseless accusations (e.g., that Mr. Bachiashvili is Mr. Ivanishvili’s personal prisoner, that Mr. Ivanishvili lacks empathy and may be malicious, and other absurd claims), which were voiced by Bachiashvili’s mother.
Moreover, Mr. Boffey categorically demanded that, if I wished to comment, I do so by 6:00 PM British time that same evening. He justified the need to publish these unfounded and unsubstantiated accusations in the press by claiming that the U.S. State Department decided in December to impose sanctions on Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili for allegedly undermining democratic institutions in Georgia, facilitating human rights violations, and restricting fundamental freedoms.
The so-called questions from the British journalist are framed as ‘accusations from the mother,’ lacking any specificity or basis. It is clear that the journalist’s goal is not to clarify the actual circumstances of the case (especially considering that we have repeatedly provided public explanations regarding the case, none of which have been addressed by either Bachiashvili or his lawyers), but rather to spread negatively framed information in the media space.
This is further confirmed by the timing of the email and the period given for a response. As noted, the email was sent on Friday, September 12, 2025, at the end of the working day, with a categorical three-hour window for response. Clearly, the journalist formally fulfilled his ethical obligation to ‘inform the other side,’ but in reality, he did not give the injured party any time to respond (and, as it appears, was not interested in the responses) and immediately published the commissioned article.
It is also noteworthy that after our first communication with Mr. Daniel Boffey, during which he similarly set an ultimatum for response deadlines, he later disregarded all the deadlines he had communicated to me for publishing the article and presented my responses in a maximally generalized, ‘lackluster’ form and content (in some cases, not reflecting them at all). I clearly explained to him that his dishonest actions were unacceptable to me, and I ceased communication with him. This was natural, as it became evident that his intention was not to receive and share my substantiated responses with his readers, but rather to understand the injured party’s position and prepare the commissioned articles in a form acceptable to their sponsors, with the sole purpose of portraying Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili in a maximally negative context.
I will briefly address Daniel Boffey’s assertions in his latest email regarding the sanctioning of Bidzina Ivanishvili, claiming that he was sanctioned for undermining democratic institutions in Georgia, facilitating human rights violations, and restricting fundamental freedoms. These false assertions were indeed reflected in his article.
Indeed, an unjustified sanction was applied to Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili by the outgoing U.S. administration. However, this unjustified sanction was limited to references to ‘suspected ties with Russia’ (I reiterate, without any specifics or factual basis), while Mr. Daniel Boffey, in the style of certain non-governmental organizations, presents a series of ‘accusations’ allegedly related to democratic backsliding and human rights violations. We believe this directly indicates his dishonesty and the fulfillment of a specific agenda.
As for Mr. Philip Shishkin, I responded to all his main questions on August 18 (and an additional question on August 21), as, like Daniel Boffey, he also imposed time constraints, claiming the article had to be published by the end of August at the latest.
However, as of mid-September, the article has still not been published, nor have my responses been reflected. Thus, we have the same situation as described in the first case—unfortunately, the execution of sponsors’ agendas by controlled media and the complete disregard of the objective reality,” the lawyer’s statement reads.
