Defense fund set up by supporters of suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione nears $200,000

As Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Monday to state murder and terrorism charges in the brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, supporters of the suspect continued to donate tens of thousands of dollars to a defense fund set up for him, leaving law enforcement officials concerned that that Mangione is being turned into a martyr.

Several online defense funds have been set up for Mangione by anonymous people, including one on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo that had raised over $187,000 as of Monday morning.

The GiveSendGo defense fund for the 26-year-old Mangione was established by an anonymous group calling itself “The December 4th Legal Committee,” apparently in reference to the day Mangione allegedly assaulted and shot Thompson in Midtown Manhattan when the executive went to his the company’s shareholder conference at the New York Hilton hotel.

“We are not here to celebrate violence, but we believe in the constitutional right to fair legal representation,” the anonymous group said in a statement.

The crowdfunding campaign prompted donations from thousands of anonymous donors across the country, many of whom left messages of support for Mangione, including one person who called himself “A Frustrated Citizen” and thanked Mangione for “stirring awareness and thoughts in this sleeping nation.”

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for GiveSendGo said the company “operates on a principle of not preemptively determining guilt or innocence.”

“Our platform does not decide legal issues or the validity of causes. Instead, we allow campaigns to remain live unless they violate the specific terms outlined in our Terms of Use. More importantly, we allow campaigns for legal defenses , as we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to access due process,” the GiveSendGo spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: “We understand the concerns raised by such campaigns and take these matters seriously. When campaigns are reported, our team conducts a thorough review to ensure they comply with our policies. While other platforms may take a different approach, GiveSendGos core value is to provide a space where all individuals, regardless of their situation, can seek and receive support, where donors make their own informed decisions.”

Other crowdfunding sites such as GoFundMe have also removed campaigns requesting donations for Mangione’s defense.

“GoFundMe’s terms of service prohibit fundraising for the legal defense of violent crimes,” the crowdfunding site said in a statement. “The fundraisers have been removed from our platform and all donors have been refunded.”

Amazon and Etsy have removed merchandise from their websites featuring Mangione, including T-shirts and tote bags that read “Free Luigi” and the phrase “Deny, Defend, Depose,” words police said were etched into the shell casings discovered on the site of Thompson’s murder.

“To celebrate this behavior is abhorrent to me. It’s deeply disturbing,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told ABC News senior investigative reporter Aaron Katersky in an interview last week. “And what I want to say to members of the public, people who, as you described, are celebrating this and maybe considering other actions is that we will be vigilant and we will hold people accountable. We are ready.”

When Mangione appeared in court Monday for his arraignment, more than two dozen young women who had been waiting in the freezing cold outside the courthouse said they were there to support the defendant.

Most of the women wore face masks, and a few appeared visibly emotional as Mangione entered the courtroom.

“This is a grave injustice and that’s why people are here,” one of the women, who said she arrived at the courthouse at 5 a.m., told ABC News.

Other supporters outside the courthouse chanted, “Free, free Luigi” and “Eat the rich,” and held signs reading “People over profit” and “Health over wealth.”

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Mangione last week on 11 charges, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism. Mangione also faces federal charges that could earn him the death penalty if convicted.

Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, raised concerns in court Monday that her client is being used by police and New York City Mayor Eric Adams as “political fodder.”

Angifilo also criticized last week’s extradition of Mangione back to Manhattan to face charges, calling Adams’ presence amid the massive show of force used in the transfer “the biggest staged perp walk I’ve seen in my career.”

“What the mayor of New York did at this press conference — it’s completely political,” she said, before referencing the mayor’s own criminal case. “The mayor of New York City should know more than anyone about the presumption of innocence.”

Retired FBI Special Agent Richard Frankel said suspects have received unsolicited support in previous politically charged violent crimes.

“We saw that with the Unabomber,” said Frankel, an ABC News contributor, referring to Ted Kaczynski, the mathematician-turned-home-terrorist who blamed technology for a decline in individual freedom and sent improvised explosive devices to targeted individuals between 1978 and 1995.

Frankel said Eric Rudolph, who detonated a bomb in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Olympic Games and carried out three more bombings as he evaded capture for five years, also attracted supporters.

“In my opinion, they are supporting individuals who have committed potentially terrorist acts, but it’s a politically charged act,” Frankel said.

Referring to the Thompson killing, Frankel added, “You can be up in arms about the health care industry, but you can’t threaten or actually hurt members of the health care industry.”

Most recently, Marine veteran Daniel Penny was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in the strangulation death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who was acting erratically on a New York City subway, after supporters donated more than $3 million to his legal defense fund.

Law enforcement officials have expressed concern that Mangione is being turned into a martyr. A person this week pasted “wanted posters” outside the New York Stock Exchange with the names of other executives.

A recent bulletin issued by the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center, a multi-agency intelligence-sharing network based in Philadelphia, included a photo of a banner hanging from an overpass reading “Deny, Defend, Depose,” which is the same words etched on casings, according to police, were recovered from the scene of the Thompson murder.

“Many social media users have directly advocated for the continued killings of CEOs, with some aiming to spread fear by posting ‘hit lists,'” reads the bulletin, obtained by ABC News.