Georgian Neo-Nazi Sentenced to 15 Years in US

A US court has ruled in the case of a Georgian neo-Nazi who was detained nearly two years ago. 22-year-old Michail Chkhikvishvili will spend 15 years in federal prison.

Chkhikvishvili was convicted of soliciting hate crimes and distributing instructions on manufacturing bombs and the toxin ricin. According to the US Department of Justice, he was one of the leaders of the international extremist group “Maniacs Murder Cult.”

According to investigators, since approximately 2021, Chkhikvishvili administered and promoted radical communities on Telegram and other closed online channels. His group, based in Russia and Ukraine, with followers in the US and other countries, promoted white supremacy, mass violence, terrorist attacks, and assaults on Jews, migrants, and ethnic minorities.

One of the most shocking details of the case was a planned attack in New York, which the perpetrator intended to carry out on New Year’s Eve. According to the FBI, Michail Chkhikvishvili urged his prospective accomplice to dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to children. The targets were Jewish schools and Jewish children in Brooklyn.

US Department of Justice files mention high-profile crimes inspired by the “Cult’s” ideology. These include a school attack in Nashville in January 2025, where a teenager killed one person and injured another, and an attack near a mosque in Turkey in 2024, where a man wearing Nazi symbols stabbed five people. In both cases, investigators found links to Chkhikvishvili’s materials—specifically, to a manifesto titled “The Hater’s Handbook,” which contained calls for school shootings, terrorist attacks, and murders.

At the time of these crimes, Chkhikvishvili was already under investigation. He was detained in July 2024 in Moldova while attempting to recruit an undercover FBI agent. He was soon extradited to the US, where he pleaded guilty in November.

Prior to his arrest in July 2024, Chkhikvishvili was not a prominent public figure. It was previously reported that he graduated from school in Georgia and then frequently traveled abroad. He visited his grandmother in New York at least twice, where he made contact with local neo-Nazis. Following his arrest, some Israeli media outlets reported that Chkhikvishvili had even worked for a time at a rehabilitation center in Brooklyn and was hired by an Orthodox Jewish family to care for a family member.

Ultimately, Chkhikvishvili will pose no danger to others for the next 15 years. However, experts fear that his ideas have already spread far beyond the neo-Nazi’s personal involvement.