Neo-Nazi leader admits plot to give poisoned candy to Jewish kids in New York City

The Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium during a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Oct. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)

NEW YORK — The leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group has pleaded guilty in New York to trying to recruit others to commit violent attacks against Jews and racial minorities, including one plot that would have involved dressing as Santa Claus to hand out poisoned candy to children.

Federal prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of up to 18 years for Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old from the Republic of Georgia who goes by the nickname “Commander Butcher.” He pleaded guilty Monday before a federal judge in Brooklyn to soliciting hate crimes and distributing information about making bombs and ricin.

Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that adheres to an ideology that promotes violence intended to trigger a racial and religious war.

They said the group’s violent solicitations -- promoted through Telegram channels and outlined a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook” -- appear to have inspired multiple real-life killings, including a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this year that left a 16-year-old student dead.

Chkhikvishvili was arrested in July 2024 in Moldova. He was extradited to the United States in May.

Since 2022, Chkhikvishvili has traveled on multiple occasions to Brooklyn, where he bragged about beating up an elderly Jewish man and instructed others, primarily through text messages, to commit violent acts on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult, according to prosecutors.

When he was approached by an undercover FBI agent in 2023, Chkhikvishvili recruited the official to various schemes, including one that would have involved dressing up as Santa Claus to give poisoned candy to racial minorities, according to prosecutors.

The plot later evolved into poisoning children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said in a court filing that when Chkhikvishvili described his desire to carry out a mass casualty attack in the United States, he said he saw the country as having “big potential” because of easy access to firearms. They also said he suggested targeting homeless people because the government wouldn’t care “even if they die.”

The Associated Press