Prosecutors in Georgia have charged four foreign nationals and five companies with operating a transnational money-laundering scheme that funneled 21.5 million Georgian lari ($8.2 million) in illicit proceeds through the country’s financial system.
According to investigators, the group generated illegal funds across multiple countries before setting up shell companies with no legitimate business operations in Georgia. The suspects then used forged documents and fabricated payment justifications to transfer the cash into local personal and corporate bank accounts.
While a small fraction of the money was moved offshore, Georgian law enforcement intercepted the vast majority of the funds, seizing roughly 14 million lari ($5.3 million) in foreign currency alongside real estate valued at over 1 million lari ($382,000).
Prosecutors said they will petition the court to place the suspects in pretrial detention and pursue full forfeiture of the seized assets. If convicted, the four individuals face between nine and 12 years in prison.
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