Giorgi Khatiashvili, accused of involvement in a transnational organized crime scheme that allegedly fabricated asylum claims for Georgian citizens seeking to enter the United States, was extradited from Argentina to Georgia, the Prosecutor’s Office announced, describing the extradition as a “precedent” and the first such case involving a country outside Europe and the region.
The case concerns a criminal group that allegedly fabricated persecution stories and supporting documents for Georgian citizens seeking asylum in the United States in exchange for payment. The investigation, conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy’s Regional Security Office (RSO), identified more than 1,000 people to whom the group allegedly offered its services between 2023 and 2026. The Prosecutor’s Office said it charged nine people in the case in previous months.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia’s October 15 statement, amid the tightening of the immigration policy in the USA, Khatiashvili and other individuals “formed a criminal group to obtain material benefits, the purpose of which was to create false stories, so-called ‘cases’ and corresponding false evidence necessary for Georgian citizens seeking asylum in the United States.”
Khatiashvili is accused of “facilitating the illegal stay of a Georgian citizen in a foreign country by a criminal group, facilitating and organizing the submission of false information for a Georgian citizen to obtain asylum in a foreign country, and producing and issuing a false official document.”
“Members of the criminal group convinced Georgian citizens that with the help of documents they had prepared and stories they had created, they would be able to obtain asylum in the United States without any problems,” the Office said.
According to the statement, the group fabricated accounts of persecution on various grounds, including “political views, sexual orientation, persecution by law enforcement officers, and other reasons,” and to substantiate these stories, created “fake documents.”
The investigation identified “more than 1,000 individuals to whom members of the criminal group offered their services between 2023 and 2026 and received approximately 600 thousand GEL, 2,250,000 USD, and 12,500 EUR from them.”
The statement also noted that “another person wanted in the case has been extradited from Germany as a result of effective international legal cooperation implemented by the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office.”
“The Georgian side’s request was fully granted by the competent authorities of the Argentine Republic, which is a precedent, as it is the first extradition case to be carried out from countries outside Europe and the region,” the statement added, thanking Georgian relevant bodies for taking measures to carry out the extradition.
The U.S.-Georgian joint efforts to uncover the scheme come amid wider reports of the two countries cooperating on security issues, including combating transnational crime, despite lingering uncertainty in bilateral relations after the U.S., under Joe Biden, suspended the strategic partnership with Tbilisi in late 2024.
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