Prosecutors have revealed that Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of sparking the catastrophic Palisades Fire, was deeply fixated on Luigi Mangione and a shared “resentment of the rich” in the days leading up to the blaze.
Court documents filed detail how the 30-year-old Uber driver allegedly spent his time online searching for terms like “free Luigi Mangione” and “let’s take down all the billionaires.”
According to a trial memorandum, this digital trail suggests a motive rooted in class-based anger and an obsession with Mangione, the man charged in the high-profile killing of a UnitedHealthcare executive.
The evidence against Rinderknecht includes testimony from passengers who rode in his vehicle on December 31, 2024, and January 1, 2025.
These riders described an “angry” and “intense” driver who drove erratically while ranting about his frustrations with capitalism and his support for vigilantism. Prosecutors say these outbursts were precursors to the arson that eventually decimated 7,000 homes and businesses across the region.
During a January 24 interview, when asked why someone would target the Palisades with arson, Rinderknecht allegedly replied that it would stem from resentment of the rich, stating, “we’re basically being enslaved by them.”
However, as Rinderknecht’s June 8 trial approaches, his defense team is focusing less on his mood and more on the embers left behind by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Defense attorney Steve Haney argues his client is a “scapegoat” for a department that failed to finish the job after the initial January 1 fire.
“My client maintains his innocence as he has from the beginning and we look forward to clearing his name at trial,” Haney said in an email Sunday to the Associated Press. He dismissed the prosecution’s narrative, adding, “The offered motive that my client started a fire on NYs Eve because he did not have a date speaks for itself.”
The defense’s strongest weapon may be testimony from within the fire department itself.
A firefighter recently testified in a deposition that he warned a supervisor about smoldering hot spots on January 2, a day after the first fire was supposedly extinguished.
While a battalion chief testified to walking the perimeter four times to ensure the area was cold, the conflicting accounts have prompted Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore to commission an independent report on the department’s response.
The scale of the destruction caused by the Palisades Fire is among the worst in recent history. The inferno resulted in $150 billion in damages and claimed the lives of 12 people in early 2025.
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Rinderknecht has pleaded not guilty to a series of federal arson charges. He has remained in custody without bail since his arrest in October as the legal proceedings continue.
CORRECTION: The original report stated that, when investigators questioned the suspect about why he allegedly set the fire, Rinderknecht said he linked his actions to the struggles of the working class. In fact, the investigators asked why ‘someone’ might have started the fire. Rinderknecht has pleaded not guilty. The story has been updated.
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