Overview
- Michail Chkhikvishvili, who was sentenced Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, received 15 years for urging hate-motivated violence and sharing bomb and ricin instructions.
- Prosecutors said he directed an undercover FBI employee to carry out a New Year’s Eve mass poisoning, first by handing out tainted candy while dressed as Santa and later by targeting Jewish schools in Brooklyn.
- Investigators linked his propaganda and the “Hater’s Handbook” to real attacks, including the January 2025 Antioch High School shooting in Nashville and an August 2024 mass stabbing outside a mosque in Eskisehir, Turkey.
- He led the Maniac Murder Cult, a transnational neo-Nazi network that recruited on encrypted platforms like Telegram and pressed followers to bomb, burn, and poison perceived enemies.
- Authorities described a global effort that included an undercover operation, a 2024 arrest leading to extradition from Moldova in May 2025, and a guilty plea in November before U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon imposed the sentence.