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Giorgi Rtskhiladze v. U.S. Department of Justice

Posted by Jerry Madden | Oct 15, 2024 | 0 Comments

On September 1, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the $100 million suit by Giorgi Rtskhiladze (GR) under the Privacy Act and for prospective relief. The suit relates to the infamous golden-rain footnote, Footnote 112, Vol. 2, of the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election (otherwise known as the Mueller Report).  GR, who is highlighted in the footnote, claims that the implications Footnote 112 were highly defamatory and abruptly ended his successful career as an American businessman originally from the Republic of Georgia.  GR has lived in the United States since 1993 (is now a citizen of the United States) and has dedicated his career to fostering closer ties between the United States, his adopted country Georgia, and other former Soviet satellites.  Georgia was invaded by Russian in 2008, and Russia still occupies a significant amount of Georgian territory.

Footnote 112 implied that GR knew about purported salacious video recordings of then citizen Trump when he attended the Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow in 2013 and that GR took active steps to suppress them in Russia prior to the 2016 presidential election to assist in Trump's election. 

There was absolutely no evidence that GR had any personal knowledge about the purported tapes or whether, if they did exist, they were authentic. On August 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed and remanded the district court's dismissal of GR's claim seeking a retraction of the defamatory implications of the footnote but affirmed the dismissal of GR's suit for damages. A three-judge Panel of the D.C. Circuit noted that the government does not challenge the allegations of the harm inflicted upon GR by Footnote 112.  The Panel rejected the conclusion of the district court that a report issued a year and a half later by the Senate Select Committee on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 Election--which accurately reported that GR had no personal knowledge about the purported tapes and certainly took no action to suppress them--somehow erased the traceability of the harm caused by the release of Footnote 112 of the Mueller Report. 

On September 20, 2024, GR filed a Petition for Rehearing En Banc asking the full Court to rehear the dismissal of his claim for damages.  The Petition is attached.    

About the Author

Jerry Madden

Jerry Madden is a highly experienced and accomplished federal trial and appeals lawyer practicing in Washington, D.C.

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