Despite remaining in custody on charges of murdering a health care executive, Luigi Mangione seemingly and briefly appeared to be modeling a shirt on the website of Shein, the giant Chinese retailer of cheap and fast fashion.
While the image of the Towson native — or someone or something generated that could pass for his twin — has been taken down from the Shein site, it continues to circulate online, depicting him in a patterned, short-sleeved shirt that apparently had sold for $11.69, according to TMZ.
“I doubt he posed for the picture while he’s in custody,” one of Mangione’s lawyers, Tom Dickey of Altoona, Pennsylvania, told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday. “The sad thing is that some people will stoop to any level to make a buck off of someone.”
Mangione, 27, the one-time valedictorian of his Gilman class, remains at a detention center in Brooklyn, New York, awaiting trial on state and federal charges in connection to the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, on Dec. 4. The case has drawn widespread attention, turning Mangione, a member of a large and prominent Maryland family, into a folk hero to those angered by an insurance industry they believe puts cost saving ahead of their medical needs.
TMZ, which said it broke the Shein story Tuesday night, quoted the retailer as saying, “The image in question was provided by a third-party vendor and was removed immediately upon discovery. We have stringent standards for all listings on our platform. We are conducting a thorough investigation, strengthening our monitoring processes, and will take appropriate action against the vendor in line with our policies.”
Mangione’s attorneys in New York declined to comment. Emails to the offices of the Manhattan District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, both of which are prosecuting Mangione in Thompson’s death, were not answered.
Shein has removed the image of a model on their site that appeared to have Luigi Mangione’s face, issuing a statement to TMZ:
“The image in question was provided by a third-party vendor and was removed immediately upon discovery. We have stringent standards for all listings on… pic.twitter.com/4AvhFniLY9
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 3, 2025
Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder and a range of other criminal charges and is next due in state court on Sept. 16. When President Trump took office in January, his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty against him in the federal case.
Dickey has sought to have Mangione returned to Altoona, where he was arrested at a McDonald’s on Dec. 9 after a five-day manhunt. The attorney has argued that police violated Mangione’s rights when he was arrested and his backpack and other belongings were seized.
Thompson had been killed in midtown Manhattan as he walked toward a hotel where he was due to address a meeting of investors. Police said shell casings on the scene were found to have the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” written on them, similar to the title of a book about how insurance companies don’t pay claims.
“People have come to me and expressed their support for [Mangione],” Dickey said, “and their displeasure with the health care system.”
Have a news tip? Contact Jean Marbella at jmarbella@baltsun.com, 410-332-6060 or @jeanmarbella.bsky.social.