Luigi Mangione, the man suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan onDec. 4, faces five charges in New York, including murder. The grandson of a real estate developer, Mangione, 26, comes from a wealthy family, is an Ivy League graduate and was the valedictorian of his ritzy Baltimore prep school, according to the Associated Press.
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Mangione has yet to be convicted. But in the spirit of his alleged crimes, we’re looking at other white people who famously turned to crime despite (and often because) being wealthy.
Menendez Brothers
Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are of white and Hispanic lineage, are currently in a California prison serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for shooting their parents to death in 1989. They were living in a Beverly Hills mansion shortly before the murders. Prosecutors theorized the pair committed the act out of fear from being excluded from their inheritance.
Bling Ring Members
The Bling Ring consisted of Alexis Haines, Rachel Lee, Nick Prugo, Courtney Ames, Diana Tamayo, Johnny Ajar and Roy Lopez. It was a California-based crime group who broke into and stole from celebrity homes between 2008 and 2009. They targeted homes in Hollywood and Calabasas, stealing more than $3 million in stolen cash and personal items.
Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman (College Admissions Scammers)
In 2019, federal prosecutors said 50 people took part in a scheme that involved either cheating on standardized tests or bribing college coaches and school officials to accept students as college athletes—regardless if the student had ever played that sport. Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were among the dozens of parents facing federal charges.
Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried once ran one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. In 2022, Bankman-Fried was criminally indicted for money laundering and fraud. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Elizabeth Holmes
Elizabeth Holmes, disgraced founder of failed blood-testing startup Theranos, went to prison in May 2023 after she was handed a 135-month prison sentence for defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Michael Milken
Michael Milken made a name in the finance world for his pioneering approach to high yield bond strategy for corporate mergers and acquisitions as an employee at the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert. In the late 1980s, Milken pleaded guilty to six counts of securities and tax violations during his time at Drexel. In addition to paying $600 million in fines, he served two years in prison.
Sherri Papini
Sherri Papini, the California mother of two, was reported missing in November 2016. She reappeared weeks later around 145 miles south of where she had vanished, with a chain around her waist and injuries officers claimed were self-inflicted. Papini kidnapped herself and was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of a 35-count indictment, admitting to mail fraud and lying to a law enforcement officer.
Martin Shkreli
Martin Shkreli was convicted of lying to investors and scamming them out of millions of dollars in two unsuccessful hedge funds he operated. Shkreli was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals — later Vyera — when it increased the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after obtaining exclusive rights to the drug in 2015. Shkreli was released from prison in 2022 after serving most of a seven-year sentence.
Eric Weinberg
In May 2024, writer-producer Eric Weinberg was ordered to stand trial on 28 charges of rape and sexual assault. Weinberg, 63, wrote on shows like “Scrubs,” “Californication” and “Politically Incorrect” with Bill Maher. If convicted, he faces multiple life sentences.
Kyle Rittenhouse
Kyle Rittenhouse was 17 years old when he traveled to Wisconsin in 2020 as the city was dealing with protests stemming from a white police officer’s shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. Rittenhouse, armed with a Smith and Wesson AR-style semiautomatic rifle, shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28. He was found not guilty on all charges.
Billy McFarland
Billy McFarland’s Fyre Fest in 2017 was an epic failure to hopeful attendees. It was also an event that that got McFarland sentenced to six years in prison on fraud charges. He was released in 2022 after having served four years, and continues to pay $26 million in restitution he owes for Fyre Fest.
Trevor Milton
Last year, Trevor Milton—founder of the electric vehicle start-up Nikola—was convicted by jurors in Manhattan on two counts of wire fraud and two counts of securities fraud. He was sentenced to four years in prison and was fined $1 million.
Donald Trump
President-elect Donald Trump has been found liable of sexual assault, was convicted of 34 different felonies stemming from falsifying business records. In the past, he has been accused of refusing to renting apartments to Black people and was charged with election interference during the 2020 presidential election.
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