Luigi Mangione Accepts $300K From Supporters for Defense in Murder Case

Luigi Mangione has received nearly $300,000 in donations from supporters as he awaits trial after being charged in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The December 4 Legal Committee has started a fundraiser on GiveSendGo for Mangione’s legal defense following his December 2024 arrest. The organization said in a post earlier this month that Mangione’s legal team accepted the $297,000 raised by the campaign to pay his legal bills.

Mangione’s lead attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told the December 4 Committee that her client “very much appreciates the outpouring of support” from more than 10,000 individual donors. People confirmed that the post from the December 4 Committee — named for the date of Thompson’s death at age 50 — was authentic but Agnifilo hasn’t released a public statement about the monetary support.

“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 in their statement while claiming that the “average American understands who the real culprits are” in the situation.

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PA State Police/MEGA Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man suspected of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in midtown Manhattan, was apprehended by law enforcement officials on December 9 after a five-day search. Photos of Mangione in police custody were then circulated online, and some celebrities … liked what they saw. “Does he need a […]

The December 4 Committee went on to slam the terrorism charges brought against Mangione, 26, as “fundamentally unacceptable.” Mangione was named as the prime suspect in Thompson’s death in late 2024. A New York grand jury indicted Mangione on terrorism charges that same month in addition to first-degree murder. He also faces charges for possessing weapons and forged instruments.

Before being hired to represent Mangione, Agnifilo said in a TV interview, “It looks like to me there might be a ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ defense that they’re going to be thinking about because the evidence is going to be so overwhelming that he did what he did.”

Mangione ultimately pleaded not guilty to the state charges. He is currently being held pretrial at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Thomas Dickey, who is also on Mangione’s defense team, previously spoke out about his client’s decision to plead not guilty.

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“I haven’t seen any evidence that he’s the shooter,” Dickey told reporters in December 2024. “Remember, and this is not just a small thing: A fundamental concert of American justice is a presumption of innocence until you’re proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And I’ve seen zero evidence at this point.”

After Mangione’s arrest, the unprecedented public support for him inspired two documentaries about the case. Actors have also been asked about whether they would be interested in playing Mangione in scripted projects — with Cooper Koch at the top of people’s list.

“I think I have to take a departure from the crime scenes and do something else,” Koch, who played convicted killer Erik Menéndez, told Entertainment Tonight in December 2024. “But I did find that hilarious.”

The actor acknowledged the resemblance between him and Mangione, adding, “Sure. I can see it.”