1 week ago
4
UnitedHealthcare CEO Murder GoFundMe Shuts Down All Pro-Luigi Mangione Campaigns
Shortly after Luigi Mangione was apprehended on Monday, admirers of his began setting up GoFundMe pages to help the CEO murder suspect ... but the company has officially shut down all the campaigns, TMZ has learned.
Here's the deal ... Luigi Mangione was apprehended Monday ... and hours later, the Manhattan D.A. charged him with murder in the brazen December 4 fatal shooting of Brian Thompson.
What seems like mere minutes after his name and pictures were out there ... twisted admirers of his began setting up several pages on the community-funding site to help Mangione with legal bills.
However ... as of Tuesday morning ... every page has been pulled, the company telling us that sort of thing ain't going to fly.
A spokesperson for the company tells TMZ ... "GoFundMe’s Terms of Service prohibit fundraisers for the legal defense of violent crimes. The fundraisers have been removed from our platform and all donors have been refunded."
That said ... new pages continue to go up, and the company has to keep playing a game of Whack-a-mole with them.
There is definitely a large portion of the country that supports the cold-blooded murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO due to their bitter hatred of health insurance companies ... hence the suspect Mangione has become a morbid folk hero.
The bizarre admiration was stewing even before Mangione had been apprehended ... but it really took off after he was captured.
Mere minutes after the suspect was identified and internet sleuths found his socials ... admirers began posting Super Mario Bros. and "Sopranos" memes celebrating Mangione.
It is not that big of a surprise that there's now merchandise celebrating the suspect ... From shirts to cups, from a Christmas ornament to even a mock-Time Person of the Year cover ... the morbid offerings continue to expand.
Monday morning ... Mangione was busted in Altoona, Pennsylvania as he sat inside a McDonald's restaurant. A customer recognized Mangione from widely circulated wanted posters following Thompson's murder, and told an employee ... who then contacted local police, who responded and cuffed the suspect.
Authorities recovered the alleged pistol Mangione used in the murder and a 3-page manifesto he'd written railing against corporate America and the healthcare industry, according to police.
We've reached out to Esty for comment on the morbid offerings ... so far, no word back.
English (US) ·