Georgian Brothers Indicted for Attempted Extortion and Embezzlement of Quincy Suboxone Clinic

Information in this article is from the U.S. Attorney's office. Arrests and charges mentioned don't imply conviction.

BOSTON, MA - Two Georgians brothers residing in Taunton attempted to extort the co-owner of a suboxone clinic in Quincy and embezzling money from the clinic, authorities said.

David Tkhilaishvili, 36, and Jambulat Tkhilaishvili, 46, were arrested Thursday according to the U.S. Attorney's office. They were indicted on two counts of embezzlement and were scheduled Thursday afternoon to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston.

In 2014, the brothers approached the co-owner of a Quincy suboxone clinic and asked him to invest in a new suboxone clinic, according to the indictment The brothers claimed to have many years of experience in running medical clinics, including suboxone clinics. To convince the victim to invest, the brothers allegedly promised to repay the victim 50 percent of his investment in the clinic within five years if the business failed, with 5 percent interest per year, in the event that the victim did not recover his investment in the clinic.

In December 2014, the victim agreed to invest in the clinic and, because of the size of his investment, insisted upon significant contractual protections including that he would have full decision making authority over matters involving the clinic. The brothers agreed, however, shortly thereafter, they began to demand that the victim surrender his ownership interest and threatened him and his family with physical injury.

One of the brothers allegedly told the victim that he had made nine people and their families, who had a problem with him in the past, disappear. On multiple occasions, both brothers threatened to physically harm the victim and his family and to burn down the clinic if the victim did not comply with their demands. In addition, one of the brothers embezzled approximately $3,500 from the clinic.

The brothers face up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 for the extortion charges. The embezzlement charges have a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 on each count.