The US Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury in New York on Monday, July 15, brought a lawsuit against the leader of a neo-Nazi extremist organization based in Eastern Europe, accusing him of conspiring to have an accomplice dress up as Santa Claus and distribute toxic candies to Jewish children in New York City, aiming to create a terrorist event.
According to a press release from the Public Affairs Office of the US Department of Justice on Tuesday, 21-year-old Georgian Michail Chkhikvishvili was indicted on four counts by a federal grand jury in New York for inciting hate crimes and acts of large-scale violence in the city. Law enforcement officers arrested the suspect based on an Interpol red notice.
Chkhikvishvili, also known as “Commander Butcher,” is alleged to lead the “Maniac Murder Cult,” which prosecutors describe as an international extremist organization following a “neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology, promoting violence and acts of violence against minority ethnic groups, Jewish communities, and other perceived ‘undesirables’ by the organization.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the US Department of Justice Matthew G. Olsen, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, and FBI National Security Branch Assistant Director Robert R. Wells announced this news. The Department of Justice statement emphasized that the aim of the “Maniac Murder Cult” is to disrupt social order and government through terrorism and violence that foster fear and chaos.
According to court documents, Chkhikvishvili was arrested for attempting to recruit an undercover law enforcement officer to join his organization and carry out violent crimes such as bombings and arson.
Prosecutors allege that in November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began planning a “mass casualty event” on New Year’s Eve in New York City.
“The plan involved an individual disguised as Santa Claus distributing poisoned candies to minority and Jewish school children in Brooklyn,” the Justice Department stated.
The statement said that Chkhikvishvili “drafted step-by-step instructions for implementing the plan” and shared with the undercover officer “detailed manuals on manufacturing and mixing lethal poisons and gases.”
Prosecutors stated that since September 2021, Chkhikvishvili has been distributing a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook,” in which he claims to be “killing for white people” and encourages and instructs others to commit large-scale violence and “ethnic cleansing” acts.
The Justice Department’s statement indicated that the handbook also encourages people to carry out school shootings, suicide bombings using children, mass slaughter of ethnic minorities, and describes methods and strategies for carrying out large-scale “terror attacks,” including using vehicles to launch terror attacks at large outdoor festivals, conferences, celebrations, parades, and crowded streets, especially within the US.
The statement revealed that Chkhikvishvili visited New York City twice in April and June 2022, staying with his grandmother in Brooklyn.
The FBI is currently investigating the case.
If convicted, Chkhikvishvili faces up to 20 years in prison for inciting the use of violence, up to 5 years for conspiracy to incite violence, up to 20 years for spreading information on making and using explosive devices, and up to 5 years for disseminating threatening information.