A white supremacist neo-Nazi leader has been charged with soliciting hate crimes and planning a mass casualty attack in New York City, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, 20, was arrested in Moldova on July 6 following an Interpol warrant. Prosecutors say Chkhikvishvili recruited others to commit violent acts, including planning a mass attack with an undercover FBI employee he believed was a prospective recruit.
"His goal was to spread hatred, fear and destruction by encouraging bombings, arson and even poisoning children," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.
From a Department of Justice press release:
The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities. The scheme also involved providing candy laced with poison to children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn. Chkhikvishvili drafted step-by-step instructions to carry out the scheme and shared with the UC detailed manuals on creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases. He also instructed the UC on methods of making ricin-based poisons in powder and liquid form, including by extracting ricin from castor beans.Prosecutors claim Chkhikvishvili planned a New Year's Eve attack in New York involving an individual dressed as Santa Claus distributing poisoned candy to racial minorities and Jewish children in Brooklyn. He allegedly aimed for the attack to be "bigger" than Anders Breivik's 2011 Norway massacre.
If convicted, Chkhikvishvili faces up to 20 years in prison for solicitation of violent felonies, 20 years for distributing explosive device information, and additional charges.
Previously:
• Rare Hitler Beetle is being driven to extinction by neo-Nazi collectors
