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.
