Prime suspect in the killing of United Health CEO appears as 'model' for men shirts on China's biggest online shopping website

Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein has launched an investigation after an image of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was used to model a shirt on its website. The image, which showed a likeness of Mangione wearing a white, short-sleeved shirt, has since been removed. The shirt was reportedly listed for just under $10. A Shein spokesperson told BBC News that the image was provided by a third-party vendor and was removed immediately upon discovery. Incidentally, this is not the first time that Mangione's likeness has caused a major company a headache. In December 2024, the BBC complained to Apple after its new AI-powered "Apple Intelligence" feature falsely generated a summary stating that Mangione had shot himself. Apple later suspended the feature due to this and some other errors.

Shein on Luigi Mangione 'moddeling' for the website

"We have stringent standards for all listings on our platform," the spokesperson said. "We are conducting a thorough investigation, strengthening our monitoring processes, and will take appropriate action against the vendor in line with our policies." It is currently unknown how long the image was featured on the site or who the vendor was.

The image's origin remains unclear, but many online have speculated it was created using artificial intelligence (AI). The BBC report said that BBC Verify used the facial recognition tool Amazon Rekognition, which found a 99.9% similarity score between the Shein image and a real photo of Mangione from his court appearance.Generative AI expert Henry Ajder noted that the low-resolution image has several signs of being AI-generated or manipulated, including unusual lighting and skin texture, as well as a "blob-like artifact" and atypical finger segmentation on the right hand. He added that generating such an image with AI is significantly faster and easier than manual photo editing.

Mangione case sparks 'Dark Fandom'

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested last December and pleaded not guilty to all federal charges of murder and stalking in April. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The public reaction to the case has been intense, sparking what some have dubbed a "dark fandom" fueled by anger toward America's private healthcare system. Anonymous donors have contributed thousands of dollars to Mangione's legal defense, and clothing featuring his name has appeared on various online marketplaces, including Etsy and, briefly, Amazon.