NEW YORK (AP) - Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group, has pleaded guilty in New York to attempting to recruit individuals for violent attacks targeting Jews and racial minorities. One of the sinister plots involved dressing up as Santa Claus to distribute poisoned candy to children.
Federal prosecutors announced that they would seek an imprisonment sentence of up to 18 years for Chkhikvishvili, who hails from the Republic of Georgia and reportedly uses the alias "Commander Butcher." He entered his guilty plea on Monday before a federal judge in Brooklyn, admitting to charges of soliciting hate crimes and disseminating information on how to create bombs and ricin.
According to prosecutors, Chkhikvishvishvili led the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist organization that promotes violence aimed at instigating a racial and religious war. The group's promotional activities, conducted via Telegram channels, included a manifesto known as the "Hater's Handbook," which prosecutors allege has inspired several violent incidents, including a tragic school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee earlier in 2023 that resulted in the death of a 16-year-old student.
Chkhikvishvili was apprehended in July 2024 in Moldova and subsequently extradited to the United States in May. From 2022 onward, he made numerous trips to Brooklyn, where he reportedly boasted about attacking an elderly Jewish man and encouraged others to engage in violent actions on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult.
In 2023, when approached by an undercover FBI agent, Chkhikvishvili attempted to recruit the officer into various schemes. One particularly disturbing plan involved the idea of dressing as Santa Claus and distributing poisoned candy targeting racial minorities. This plot later developed into a more focused intention to poison children attending Jewish schools in Brooklyn, according to the prosecutors' statements.
Prosecutors further detailed in a court filing that Chkhikvishvishvili considered the United States a country with "big potential" for mass casualty attacks, citing the ease of access to firearms. Additionally, he expressed a callous attitude towards homeless individuals, suggesting they could be targeted for violence on the grounds that the government would not care if they died.
In a modification to the initial reports, it has been clarified that the original plot to dress as Santa Claus to poison racial minorities eventually evolved into a scheme aimed at poisoning Jewish children, although it would not involve such a disguise in that specific context.
