Luigi Mangione’s legal fund donations net thousands after murder charge, with $200K goal
Twisted supporters have raised tens of thousands of dollars toward accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione’s defense funds in the shocking Manhattan slay that left a father of two dead.
Hundreds have flooded a GiveSendGo page dedicated to helping Mangione, 26, after he was busted Monday and charged with the Dec. 4 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Many anonymous donors on the site hailed Mangione as a “hero” for targeting the man who helped oversee America’s largest private insurer.
“Luigi poses no danger to society, except to those greedy executives,” one donor wrote, giving $10. “Governors Hochul and Shapiro should pardon him right now!!”
“The violence that needs to be stopped is putting OBSCENE profit above people. This is not capitalism. It is the systematic destruction of the poor to the benefit of the rich,” another $5 donor wrote.
The donation page was created by The December 4th Legal Committee in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, a group that appears to be named after the date when Mangione allegedly shot Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown.
It’s raised nearly $30,000 as of Wednesday afternoon with a goal of $200,000.
“We are not here to celebrate violence, but we do believe in the constitutional right of fair legal representation,” the group wrote on the fundraiser site.
“All proceeds will be sent directly to Luigi or, if he chooses to reject the funds, they will instead be donated to legal funds for other U.S political prisoners,” they added.
What we know about the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
- Brian Thompson, the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was gunned down Wednesday outside a luxury Midtown hotel in a “brazen, targeted attack,” police said.
- Thompson was named CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Department of Justice.
- Thompson’s wife, Paulette, said her husband had been getting threats before he was killed.
- Thompson’s shooting led to sick support online, and even spurred a tasteless lookalike competition in NYC.
- A person of interest has been nabbed by police officers inside a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa.
- The suspect has been identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, originally from Towson, Md. He’s an Ivy League graduate who hated the medical community.
Follow along with The Post’s live updates on the news surrounding Brian Thompson’s murder.
Mangione, who railed against capitalism and corporate greed in his manifesto, hails from a well-to-do family from Towson, Maryland that owns local resorts, country clubs, nursing homes and even a radio station.
The suspect’s defense lawyer, Thomas Dickey, seemed skeptical about the legal fund and suggested he would not use it out of principle in the case.
When asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday night why people would donate to his client, Dickey suggested they were probably exercising their freedom of speech while bringing up PACs and the Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court says all these rich billionaires can give all kinds of money to candidates and that’s free speech. So maybe these people were exercising their right to free speech and saying that’s why they’re supporting my client,” Dickey said.
Thompson, 50, leaves behind a wife and two children.
Source link