Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024, has accepted nearly $300,000 in donations for his criminal defense.
Mangione is charged with first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism, stalking and a slew of other state and federal charges in both New York and Pennsylvania, for allegedly gunning down Thompson, a married father of two from Minnesota.
“Luigi is aware of the fund and very much appreciates the outpouring of support. My client plans on utilizing it to fight all three of the unprecedented cases against him,” Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s lead defense attorney, said in a Monday statement, according to the December 4 Legal Committee, which created the fund.
The fundraiser garnered more than $290,000 from more than 10,000 individual donations, according to a press release.
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Luigi Mangione departs the courtroom following his arraignment in New York City Criminal Court on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
“It’s shocking that anybody would raise money for a person [accused of killing] someone in broad daylight in cold blood. There are so many other causes in this country that a person could raise money for,” former Washington, D.C., homicide detective, criminal trial attorney and Fox News contributor Ted Williams told Fox News Digital. “Mangione, by the way, came from a very well-off family…raising money for him is like applauding murder.”
“There are so many other causes in this country that a person could raise money for.”
Williams questioned the “mental stability” of anyone who would raise money for a murder suspect, calling the act “sick.”
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024. (Businesswire | NYPD Crimestoppers)
“I find it sad in America where we can witness one man murdering another man and amplify the murderer. It is appalling to me that anybody would raise even a dollar for a person who killed another person in cold blood,” Williams said. “Yes, a person is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. However, given everything we know about Luigi…all the evidence points directly to him. I am just shocked that because of a person’s status, i.e. being a health care executive, that anybody in America could be cheering the death of a human being.”
The December 4 [D4] Legal Committee describes itself as “a team of 15 volunteers around the United States” that was “created independently by Mangione’s supporters on his behalf.” The D4 committee’s spokespeople, Sam Beard and Jamie Peck, also host a podcast “about communism and gossip” called “Party Girls.”
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Luigi Mangione is escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City, NY, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
“We’re thrilled that Luigi is accepting these funds so that he can mount the strongest defense possible,” Beard said in a statement. “The American private health insurance industry has ruined countless lives by denying people access to basic care and burying families in medical debt. It’s no surprise that Luigi’s alleged actions are understood and supported by tens of millions of hard-working Americans.”
Mangione allegedly shot Thompson outside the Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare’s annual shareholder conference was being held, in an act prosecutors believe was meant to send a message to the health care insurance industry.
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Luigi Mangione is escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City, NY, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. He is charged in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Police found a manifesto on the suspect when he was arrested days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he traveled by bus from New York after the alleged killing.
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“Luigi Mangione allegedly conducted the carefully premeditated and targeted execution of Brian Thompson to incite national debates,” James Dennehy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said in a statement after Mangione’s extradition to New York. “This alleged plot demonstrates a cavalier attitude towards humanity — deeming murder an appropriate recourse to satiate personal grievances.”
The 26-year-old Mangione is originally from Maryland and has recently lived in California and Hawaii. He graduated valedictorian from the Gilman School, a private, all-boys high school in Baltimore, in 2016. Mangione went on to receive his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.