The law firm Akerman in the United States received $917,177 from the family of the currently imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in a bid to lobby the US officials to facilitate the release of the third president, who was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021. 

A disclosure of the firm with the United States Justice Department also revealed nearly $300,000 had been used to pay medical experts involved in drafting reports over Saakashvili, amid court proceedings on granting the former official’s release or the postponement of the rest of his six-year-sentence for abuse of power on health grounds. 

“Almost one million dollars spent on an influence campaign aimed at changing US foreign policy. Nearly the same amount spent on a PR campaign to blackmail his former homeland. Not a drop of remorse. People do not change”, Levan Karumidze, the ruling Georgian Dream party MP tweeted on Wednesday. 

The court on Monday denied Saakashvili’s release on medical grounds.