NEW YORK — The alleged leader of a violent extremist group plotted to poison children and minorities in New York City, authorities said Tuesday.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, 20, was arrested in Moldova on July 6.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Chkhikvishvili is the leader of the “Maniac Murder Cult,” an international racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist group.
Authorities said Chkhikvishvili was staying with a relative in Brooklyn in 2022 and began using encrypted mobile messaging platforms to encourage others to commit violent hate crimes. He also claimed that he committed hate crimes himself while living there.
An undercover law enforcement employee contacted Chkhikvishvili via one of these platforms and claimed to be a prospective recruit for the extremist group.
Beginning around November 2023, Chkhikvishvili allegedly asked the undercover employee to commit acts of mass violence, such as bombings and arsons, targeting racial minorities and Jewish people, and provided detailed plans and instructions on how to make bombs and Molotov cocktails, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Georgian national planned New Year’s Eve attack in NYC
According to authorities, in November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began to plan an attack that would take place in New York City on New Year’s Eve.
Chkhikvishvili allegedly planned to have someone dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poison-laced candy to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn.
Authorities said Chkhikvishvili told the undercover employee how to make ricin-based poisons, along with other lethal poisons and gases.
On Monday, a federal grand jury in Brooklyn returned a four-count indictment charging Chkhikvishvili with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence in New York City.