Luigi Mangione has accepted nearly $300,000 in donations from fans as he awaits trial for allegedly slaying Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in December.
The December 4 Legal Committee, which is stewarding a fundraiser on GiveSendGo for Mangione’s legal defense, said in a post that it had made contact with Mangione’s legal team, which accepted the $297,000 raised by the campaign to pay the accused killer’s legal bills.
Mangione’s lead attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told the December 4 Committee — so named for the date of Thompson’s murder — that Mangione “very much appreciates the outpouring of support” from what the committee says is more than 10,000 individual donors.
A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the post was genuine. Friedman Agnifilo declined to comment when reached by PEOPLE.
Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a prominent Maryland real estate family, is accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel where he was heading to an investors’ conference.
The masked suspect fled the scene and was the subject of a massive manhunt for the next week.
Mangione was detained in Altoona, Pa. on Dec. 9 after a tipster called the police at a local McDonald’s. Police said he possessed a 9mm ghost gun, several fake IDs, and a manifesto critical of the health insurance industry.
He faces federal murder charges that could land him the death penalty, as well as state murder charges that accuse him of committing an act of terrorism. He has pleaded not guilty to the state charges, and is currently being held pretrial at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The shocking killing led to a nationwide outpouring of anger towards the health insurance industry, and sympathy towards Mangione specifically.
In its post, the December 4 Committee said the media had “scramble[d] to demonize” Mangione but the “average American understands who the real culprits are.” They called the terrorism charges levied against Mangione “fundamentally unacceptable.”
“We are thrilled that the money raised by this campaign will go toward building the strongest possible defense against these insulting charges,” the committee wrote. The group intends to keep raising money for Mangione for the duration of his trial.
