The leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group pleaded guilty in New York to recruiting others to carry out violent attacks against Jews and racial minorities — including a plot to dress as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to children.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, of the Republic of Georgia, who goes by "Commander Butcher," admitted Monday in Brooklyn federal court to soliciting hate crimes and sharing instructions for making bombs and ricin. 

Federal prosecutors say Chkhikvishvili led the Maniac Murder Cult, an extremist group advocating violence to spark a racial and religious war. He was extradited from Moldova to the Eastern District of New York in May.

"With today’s guilty plea, this defendant admits to a horrific plot targeting Jewish people and racial minorities and even planned to poison children with candy around the holidays," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a DOJ press release.

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Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, is seen in photos provided by the U.S. Department of Justice. (Department of Justice)

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.

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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.

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.