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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."
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