The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has arrested three individuals and initiated criminal proceedings against six others following an investigation into multiple offences. These include large-scale fraud committed by a group with prior agreement, facilitating the illegal stay of Georgian citizens in a foreign country, organising and facilitating the submission of false information to obtain asylum abroad, and production and sale of fake official documents.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, two organised crime groups were uncovered as a result of a joint operation conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia and the Regional Security Office of the United States Embassy.
“The investigation has established that tighter U.S. immigration policies have made crossing the American border more difficult. Consequently, four Georgian citizens formed an organised crime group. Following a prearranged plan, they targeted Georgian citizens seeking asylum in America, promising to fabricate their asylum stories (known as ‘cases’), gather evidence, and provide legal support in court. The investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has identified 366 Georgian citizens who approached the members of this organised crime group to secure asylum in the United States.
Members of the criminal group fabricated entirely false stories for these ‘cases’, claiming that the Georgian citizens were being persecuted in Georgia for various reasons, including their political views or sexual orientation. To back up these narratives, group members forged official documents and charged substantial sums in return. Specifically, they demanded between USD 1,000 and USD 1,500 to draft a fake ‘case’, and USD 3,000 to falsify documents. On top of these fees, they demanded and received an additional USD 6,000 to USD 8,000 from each citizen to manage and successfully resolve the asylum application.
In addition, two members of the organised crime group promised assistance to Georgian nationals who had arrived in the United States and were held in immigration detention, demanding substantial sums in return. The defendants defrauded four citizens of USD 10,000, but failed to provide any assistance.
Furthermore, the members of the organised crime group promised to help Georgian citizens obtain Canadian visas. As part of an intelligence-led operation conducted by the Investigative Division of the Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Office, one of the defendants manufactured a fake bank statement, a falsified employment reference claiming the individual worked in the United States, and other falsified documents. This was done for an undercover prosecution officer in exchange for USD 800, under the guise of assisting them with a Canadian visa application.
A joint operation by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia and the U.S. Embassy’s Regional Security Office also uncovered a second organised crime group that helped citizens obtain U.S. visas using falsified documents. Members of this group posted advertisements across various social media platforms, offering visa assistance to individuals wishing to travel to the United States. The gang members told citizens that apart from the application fee, no payment would be required until the visa was approved. Upon approval, however, applicants were expected to pay between USD 10,000 and USD 15,000.
The group members manufactured and distributed forged official documents to 65 Georgian citizens for submission to the U.S. Embassy, enabling some of them to obtain visas. Upon receiving their visas, these individuals handed over USD 112,000 in cash to members of the organised crime group.
However, the gang’s fraud was uncovered after the Embassy cross-checked a portion of the documents owing to mounting suspicions. Consequently, visas were revoked for all citizens who had received assistance from the group. Despite this exposure, between January 2025 and February 2026, members of the organised crime group managed to extort USD 142,786.43, GEL 15,095, and EUR 1,560 in illicit financial gains from citizens using these forged documents.
The defendants will be charged under Article 344-2, Paragraph 2 (Subparagraphs C and D) and Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (organising or facilitating the submission of knowingly false information regarding violations of rights or freedoms for a Georgian citizen to obtain international protection, or facilitating the illegal stay of a Georgian citizen in a foreign country for financial or material gain, committed by an organised group against two or more individuals using forged documents).
They will also face charges under Article 180, Paragraph 2 (Subparagraph A) and Paragraph 3 (Subparagraph B) (large-scale fraud, defined as the unlawful acquisition of another person’s property or property rights through deception, committed by a group with prior agreement) and Article 362, Paragraph 2 (Subparagraph B) (manufacturing and selling forged official documents) of the Criminal Code of Georgia. These offences carry a maximum penalty of up to nine years’ imprisonment.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia will apply to Tbilisi City Court within the legally prescribed timeframe to request remand in custody for all nine defendants.
The criminal investigation remains ongoing, both into these specific incidents and to identify other individuals involved in further episodes,” the Prosecutor’s Office statement concluded.
