Bill Ackman has donated $10,000 to the family of slain anti-ICE protester Alex Pretti just days after he was fatally shot by a US Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis.
Ackman, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, made the donation through the online crowdfunding site GoFundMe, which as of Monday afternoon had raised more than $1.2 million for Pretti’s family.
Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and US citizen, was fatally shot on Saturday during a confrontation with federal agents in Minneapolis while he was filming an enforcement action tied to heightened ICE operations in the city.
Hours after the incident, Ackman appeared to blame Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for his death, writing on X: “It is almost as if the governor of Minnesota called for protesters to intervene in ICE enforcements in an incendiary manner?”
“Inciting the people to rise up against law enforcement is guaranteed to end badly, and now we have seen the tragic consequences,” the billionaire added, calling on Walz “and those that emulate him” to “take the temperature down before more lives are lost.”
Earlier this month, Ackman donated $10,000 to a GoFundMe that was created to aid Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, 37, during a traffic stop in Minneapolis.
The donation to Ross sparked anger on social media as internet users demanded a boycott of Tex-Mex fast-casual chain Chipotle, which counted Ackman’s Pershing Square among its investors nearly a decade ago.
The company sought to distance itself from Ackman by reminding the public that the hedge fund mogul is “not affiliated with Chipotle” after Pershing Square sold all of its holdings in the chain as of late last year.
Ackman defended the donation, writing on X that he is a “big believer in our legal principle that one is innocent until proven guilty” — adding that he’d wanted to donate to Good’s family fundraiser but said it was closed by the time he attempted it.
He had not addressed his donation to Pretti’s family on his X account as of Monday afternoon.
“My donation to Ross has been characterized in social media by the press as my ‘giving a reward to the murderer of Renee Good’ likely in an effort to generate clicks and boost virality, and by some to advance their political objectives,” Ackman wrote earlier this month.
He insisted that his “purpose in supporting Ross” and “attempting to support Good” was “not to make a political statement.”
“I was simply continuing my longstanding commitment to assisting those accused of crimes of providing for their defense,” Ackman wrote.
“I strongly believe that only a detailed forensic investigation by experts and a deep understanding of the law that applies will enable us to determine whether Ross is guilty of murder.”
The Post has sought comment from Ackman and Pretti’s family.
