Neo-Nazi Cult Leader Admits Terrorist Plot To Give NYC Kids Poisoned Candy: Feds

NEW YORK CITY — A neo-Nazi cult leader has pleaded guilty to charges after allegedly plotting a terrorist attack involving an individual dressed as Santa Claus giving out poisoned candy to children on New Year's Eve, federal prosecutors said.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, known as “Commander Butcher,” pleaded guilty on Monday to soliciting hate crimes and sending instructions to make bombs and ricin. He was a leader of Maniac Murder Cult, an international racially motivated violent extremist group.

“The defendant has admitted his vile actions, including recruiting others to commit acts of violence against Jewish and racial minority children. His incitement of hate crimes resulted in real-world violence,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. said. “This prosecution shows that our Office will protect all communities from evildoers like the defendant from wherever they spew their hate."

In June 2022, Chkhikvishvili traveled to Brooklyn and began encouraging others, via the encrypted messaging application Telegram, to commit violent hate crimes and other acts of violence on behalf of Maniac Murder Cult.

The 22-year-old also solicited an undercover agent to commit the terrorist attack on New Year's Eve. The plan evolved from having an individual dress up as Santa Claus and hand out candy laced with poison to targeting the Jewish community, Jewish schools, and Jewish children in Brooklyn

Chkhikvishvili sent detailed manuals about creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases, including ricin.

His “Hater’s Handbook,” inspired at least two separate attacks, according to federal authorities.

In January 2025, a 17-year-old killed one person and wounded another before taking their own life in an attack at a high school in Nashville, Tennessee.

Another attacker filmed himself stabbing five people outside a mosque in Turkey while wearing a vest with Nazi symbols.

Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.