Alexander Giannakakis, 37, pleaded guilty on Monday to hiding information and otherwise tampering with a federal investigation of his now-deceased brother, who set fires at four Massachusetts synagogues and assisted living homes.
Giannakakis, who was extradited from Sweden, is slated to be sentenced on March 11, 2025. He faces up to 60 years in prison for the combined three counts, and three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
“This defendant obstructed justice about hate crimes directed at Jewish people living in greater Boston,” stated Joshua Levy, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusett. “These attempted arsons at Jewish houses of worship and senior living facilities sent ripples of fear throughout the region.”
“We must be vigilant in holding accountable every single person who engages in or facilitates acts of hate like this,” Levy added. “Alexander Giannakakis chose to destroy evidence and conceal these hate crimes and for deciding to stand on the side of acts of vile antisemitism, he now stands convicted and awaiting sentencing.”
The defendant’s younger brother, whom the Justice Department did not name, was the main suspect in a February 2020 probe of four May 2019 fires set in the Boston area—two at a Chabad Center in Arlington, one at a Needham Chabad and the fourth and at a Jewish business in Chelsea.
“At the time Giannakakis’s brother was identified as a suspect, he was hospitalized in a coma,” per the Justice Department. “He remained in a coma until his death later that year.” Shortly after his brother became a suspect, Giannakakis traveled to Sweden and took his brother’s documents and electronic devices, the Justice Department said.
“When Giannakakis returned to the United States in March 2020, he was questioned by investigators and made false and misleading statements. He later concealed and destroyed physical evidence being sought by investigators that implicated his brother in the arsons,” it added. “Within hours of concealing and destroying that evidence, Giannakakis fled the United States for Sweden.”
Swedish authorities arrested him in February 2022.
Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, stated that “fire is a dangerous and indiscriminate weapon,” which  the FBI believes that “Giannakakis’s brother used to express his hatred for Jewish people four times.”
“By lying to our investigators and trying to obstruct our investigation into his brother, Mr. Giannakakis only made matters worse,” Cohen stated. “If people think there’s no downside to deceiving FBI agents, critical lines of investigation will be compromised, and our justice system stalled. Our Joint Terrorism Task Force can’t afford to be deterred in this way.”
(JNS)