The leader of a neo-Nazi organization originating from Eastern Europe has confessed in a New York courtroom to orchestrating a scheme aimed at inciting violence against Jews and racial minorities. This plot included a particularly heinous plan to impersonate Santa Claus and distribute poisoned candy to unsuspecting children.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old from the Republic of Georgia, who is known by the alias “Commander Butcher,” entered his guilty plea on Monday at the federal court in Brooklyn. He admitted to soliciting acts of hate and distributing instructions on how to construct bombs and create ricin, a lethal toxin.

According to federal prosecutors, Chkhikvishvili was at the helm of the Maniac Murder Cult, a radical group that advocates for violent actions intended to ignite a racial and religious conflict. In May, he was extradited from Moldova to face charges in the Eastern District of New York.

“Today’s guilty plea reveals the defendant’s chilling intentions to target Jewish communities and racial minorities, including a despicable plan to poison children during the holiday season,” remarked FBI Director Kash Patel in an official Department of Justice statement.

The U.S. Department of Justice has released images of Michail Chkhikvishvili, emphasizing the serious nature of the charges against him. These photos underscore the gravity of his crimes and the threat he posed to society.

Chkhikvishvili traveled to Brooklyn in June 2022 and soon began urging others — mainly via the encrypted app Telegram — to commit violent hate crimes for the group. He repeatedly solicited mass‑violence attacks from someone who turned out to be an undercover FBI employee, prosecutors said.

Since at least 2021, he had circulated a manifesto, the “Hater’s Handbook,” which encourages mass violence, including school shootings.

Federal prosecutors said Chkhikvishvili could face up to 40 years in prison. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)

By November 2023, prosecutors say, he was directing the undercover agent to carry out bombings and arsons targeting minorities and Jewish communities. That month, he devised a New Year’s Eve mass casualty attack in New York City involving a Santa‑clad assailant handing out poison‑laced candy. In January, he shifted the plot to targeting Jewish schools, communities and children in Brooklyn and sent detailed instructions for creating lethal toxins, including ricin.

Federal officials say his rhetoric inspired real‑world attacks. 

In January 2025, a 17‑year‑old gunman opened fire inside Antioch High School in Nashville, killing one student and wounding another before shooting himself. The attacker claimed to act on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult and other groups.

In January 2025, a school shooting at Antioch High School in Nashville left one student dead and another wounded. The shooter, a 17-year-old student, had claimed to act on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult and other groups. (X/@MNPDNashville)

In August 2024, an attacker in Eskisehir, Turkey, livestreamed himself stabbing several people outside a mosque while wearing a vest with Nazi symbols. His manifesto cited Chkhikvishvili and linked to the “Hater’s Handbook” and other propaganda.

Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, the DOJ said.