Alaska Man Indicted for Sending Hundreds of Assassination Threats to Supreme Court Justices

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Aug. 14, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A federal grand jury in Alaska indicted a 76-year-old man on Sept. 18 for making hundreds of threats to injure and assassinate six justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and their families.

Panos Anastasiou was arrested on Sept. 18; the allegations are that between March 10, 2023, and July 16, 2024, he “sent over 465 messages to the Supreme Court through a public website the court maintained,” which included violent threats.

Court documents allege that beginning in January, Anastasiou’s communications escalated to messages intended to threaten harm toward the justices and their families—containing what the Department of Justice described as “violent, racist and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination by torture, hanging and firearms.”

They allegedly included threats to kill the justices in ways such as lynching and beheading. One threat said that he would assist in “‘providing the rope’ to ‘hang [the justice] ... from an Oak tree,’” the indictment said.

He also encouraged others to take action against the justices in the threats, according to the indictment. He allegedly said that he would kill two justices and their family members by sending “fellow veterans” of the Vietnam War to “spray” their homes with bullets.

Another alleged threat was against a former president of the United States, though court records refer to him only as “Former President 1.”

Anastasiou allegedly wrote that he hoped to see the former president and the Supreme Court justice “hanging together from an Oak tree.”

Documents claim that the Supreme Court Police reviewed the messages and deemed them “concerning enough” to warrant an investigation. FBI agents in Anchorage then assisted in contacting the man to discuss the messages.

According to court documents, Anastasiou proceeded to send more messages to the court referencing the FBI interview and “daring” the justices to visit him personally at his home.

Anastasiou made his first court appearance on Sept. 18, and a federal judge will decide on Sept. 19 whether he is eligible for bond.

Federal prosecutors argued in a memo to the court after his arrest against giving him bond and detaining him until trial, claiming that he is a serious flight risk.

Prosecutors allege that Anastasiou “has a demonstrated history of disregard for the authority of federal courts and will be unlikely to obey court orders” and that there is “a serious risk that the defendant will obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice, or threaten, injure, or intimidate, or attempt to threaten, injure, or intimidate, a prospective witness or juror, because he exposes a persistent and obsessive desire to cause harm to his victims and encourage others to harm the victims as well.”

Anastasiou is charged with nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison for each count of making threats against a federal judge and up to five years in prison for each count of making threats in interstate commerce.

Jane M. Imholte, the federal public defender representing Anastasiou, said her client had no comment at this time on the matter.