Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chairman of Georgian Dream, has also won his lawsuit against the Swiss bank Credit Suisse in the Supreme Court of London.
This is the final-instance decision related to the dispute that began in Bermuda.
Ivanishvili first won the case against Credit Suisse in the Bermuda court in March 2022, but CS Life Bermuda (a subsidiary of Credit Suisse) appealed the judgment.
According to the latest damage assessment, Ivanishvili lost 607 million USD at Credit Suisse. This figure was established in June 2022 after the judge of the Bermuda Supreme Court instructed the forensic accountants of both parties to conduct a more precise evaluation of Ivanishvili’s losses.
As for today’s ruling, the Supreme Court of London unanimously rejected the appeal by CS Life (a Credit Suisse subsidiary) on all issues except for the correct starting date for assessing damages. It also rejected the counter-appeal.
However, despite Ivanishvili’s victory in the Supreme Court of London, it remains unclear whether he will be able to receive the money due to sanctions. Although Ivanishvili is not sanctioned by the UK, he has been under U.S. financial sanctions since December 2024.
On November 20, Ivanishvili’s lawyer, Temo Tsikvadze, also stated that, due to the U.S. sanctions, Ivanishvili might not be able to receive the funds even if he won the case. The lawyer framed this issue as a conspiracy theory, claiming that Ivanishvili is being persecuted by the “deep state.”
“No one from the previous U.S. administration has explained why exactly the sanctions were imposed, what the supposed ‘Russian interest’ was that Mr. Ivanishvili had allegedly pursued in Georgia. The baseless, unjustified sanction targeted precisely the funds for which the ruling in London was scheduled to be delivered on November 24. This is one of two major assets Mr. Ivanishvili holds abroad. The imposition of sanctions on funds that my client has not yet legally recovered sent us a simple message: ‘You might win in court, but we will decide whether you get the asset back,’” reads the statement released by Ivanishvili’s lawyer on November 20.
The dispute between Bidzina Ivanishvili and Credit Suisse to whom the billionaire entrusted his assets has been ongoing for years across multiple jurisdictions, including Bermuda, Singapore, and Switzerland. These cases concerned the loss of Ivanishvili’s funds on the stock market by the bank’s representative, Patrice Lescaudron. In 2018, Lescaudron was found guilty of fraud. Regarding the matter, the bank stated that Lescaudron had acted independently. The six-year dispute in Bermuda concluded in 2022, when the court ordered the bank to pay Ivanishvili 500 million USD. If UBS ultimately acquires Credit Suisse, Ivanishvili’s case will proceed not against Credit Suisse but against UBS, as the latter will inherit the bank’s obligations.