By Kevin McCauley
Patton Boggs has inked a $1.6M ten-month agreement to represent Republic of Georgia billionaire politico Bidsina Ivanishvili, who heads the party that wants to oust president Mikheil Saakashvili from power in this fall’s election.
Saakashvili is a Washington favorite.
PB, according to its federal filing, is to inform Congress and members of the Obama administration about the “punitive measures taken by the Georgian government, which restricted his civil and political freedoms and the selective application of punitive measures against Cartu Bank,” which Ivanishvili owns.
The government put Cartu into receivership in July because Ivanishvili failed to pay a fine for political funding violations, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Upon paying the fine, Cartu officials accused the government of looting bank assets during the two-week takeover.
The government stripped Ivanishvili of his Georgian citizenship last October after he got a French passport.
Georgia’s parliament subsequently passed a measure that allows EU citizens to run for office as long as they were Georgian residents during the previous five years.
Tommy Boggs leads lobbying team, according to PB’s engagement letter with Ivanishvili. He’s assisted by Graham Wisner and Larry Harris. |