Bushan Athale of Dallas, Texas, faces up to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines after admitting in court on Friday to threatening Sikhs and Muslims and making antisemitic comments.
The 49-year-old pleaded guilty to the federal hate crime and to making interstate threats against staff at a Sikh nonprofit before U.S. District Judge Edward Kiel in Camden federal court, per the U.S. Justice Department.
He is slated to be sentenced on June 3.
Athale called an American Sikh civil rights organization on, or around, Sept. 17, 2022, and left seven hateful voice messages over the course of an hour, including threatening to kill or hurt staff members with a razor, per the Justice Department.
His messages, “which were filled with violent imagery and obscenity, contained references to places, people and tenets that are particularly significant within the Sikh religion,” per the Justice Department. That included shaving the heads of Sikh employees and making them smoke and eat tobacco.
Athale called the same nonprofit on March 21, 2024, and left two more voice messages, including one that “spouted antisemitic rhetoric” and expressed hatred toward Muslims, per the complaint.
Among the things to which Athale pleaded guilty were messages he sent to a former co-worker on Nov. 6-7, 2021, in which he expressed his hatred of Pakistan and Muslims.
“I hate you. I just don’t know how to kill your whole family including you? Tell me??? I will figure it out,” he admitted to writing to the former coworker. “Probably I will hire a Jew, they will be most happy.”
He also admitted to sending death threats to a recruiter, who he thought was Muslim, between May 28 and 31, 2024.
“Threats of violence have no place in our society,” stated Vikas Khanna, acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. “Every individual in this country must be free to practice their religion without fear of violence or persecution.”