The official defense fund for Luigi Mangione soared past $1 million on Tuesday — a gift right in time for his 27th birthday.
The fundraiser, which is still live on the platform GiveSendCo, has raked in more than $1.04 million, all of which will go toward covering expenses associated with the three pending criminal cases against Mangione in New York and Pennsylvania.
Organizers said the financial milestone marked “a step forward in pursuing justice for Mr. Mangione,” who is currently behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Thompson had been visiting the city from Minnesota for an investor conference sponsored by the insurance giant at The Residences by Hilton Club, where he was supposed to give a speech. Police said he was walking toward the venue the morning of Dec. 4 when he was ambushed by a masked gunman near W. 54th St. near Sixth Ave. He was pronounced dead a half hour later.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Atloona, Pa. after days of dodging law enforcement. Police said he had a silencer and 3D-printed gun on him at the time matching three shell casings found at the murder scene. The ammo had been marked with the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” — a reference to the insurance industry’s tactics for delaying claims and maximizing profits.
In the months he has spent at MDC in Brooklyn, Mangione has been inundated with letters from supporters all around the world.
The massive pot of donations for his defense fund is made up of contributions from some 28,000 people, with a median offering of $20. Organizers said it “shows how the fund has become one of the few uncensored public forums for people in America to share their grievances with our lethal for-profit healthcare system and the indefensible economic and political order that has imposed it upon us.”
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges. He’s due back in court on Dec. 5, when his federal trial date will be set.
