Maxwell Crosby Azzarello sets himself on fire outside Trump hush money trial as the activist hailing from Florida espoused anti-establishment views which he linked to in his Ponzi Papers substack as he dies from his injuries hours after self immolation act.
‘It’s time to start a revolution!’ The man who set himself on fire outside former president Donald Trump‘s ‘hush money’ trial in downtown Manhattan has been named as Florida native Maxwell Crosby Azzarello.
Azzarello, 37, who was initially in critical condition, only to die shortly later in hospital, set himself on fire on Friday just on 1.30pm. The activist had walked into a park near where Trump’s trial was taking place, doused himself with an accelerant, before lighting it in front of horrified witnesses according to the nytimes.
⚡️Graphic Content ⚡️
He chose to film how Max Azzarello will set him himself on fire.
Am I wrong to ask this? ⬇️
Do you think he could have saved him? He was clearly not on fire and had no liquid over him, yet?#Man_Sets_Himself #AaronBushnell
— Arslan Sarwar🕊️ (@PakCornPlaster) April 20, 2024
Who is Max Azzarello anti-establishment figure?
The episode lasted several minutes before the flames were extinguished by police officers and court staff.
Azzarello hailing from St. Augustine, FL. described himself as an investigative researcher in a blog post published just hours before he self-immolated.
Azzarello an ‘anti-establishment’ activist moments before lighting himself on fire had dropped fliers in the immediate vicinity that included a link to his Substack account, ‘The Ponzi Papers,’ explaining his actions.
Under the banner headline was a blog post titled: ‘I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial.’
‘My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan,’ the nearly 2,700-word posting begins.
The activist claimed on the blog post that his ‘extreme act of protest’ was to draw light to what he called a ‘totalitarian con.’
This is Max Azzarello, the guy who set himself on fire today outside the courthouse of the Trump trial. pic.twitter.com/226rFcDy67
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 19, 2024
Max Azzarello The Ponzi Papers
He wrote that the government was ‘about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup.’
Azzarello added: ‘To my friends and family, witnesses and first responders, I deeply apologize for inflicting this pain upon you. But I assure you it is a drop in the bucket compared to what our government intends to inflict.’
Azarello travelled to New York City a week ago, saying on his Instagram he would be staying at Washington Square Park.
Azzarello had a long history of posting conspiracy theories and railing against the rich and powerful, according to NYPD officials, who had begun to comb through his social media profiles the Independent reported.
His lengthy Substack post called out a string of people, social media companies and institutions.
Other musings included topics on cryptocurrency, Hollywood actors, COVID in which he decried as an ‘economic doomsday device’.
On his LinkedIn profile, where he seemingly appears in a photo with Bill Clinton, Azzarello wrote: ‘We’ve got a secret fascism problem.’
His profile claims he has been self-employed since March of 2023.
Azarello received an undergraduate diploma in anthropology and public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009.
He went on to get a Master’s degree in city and regional planning in Rutgers University in New Jersey in 2012.
‘It’s time to start a revolution!’
Last year Max Azarello filed a lawsuit against the Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, Binance, Peter Thiel, Mark Cuban, Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg, among a dozen other entities.
His complaint reads: ‘Each of the defendants has knowingly conspired, participated in, benefitted financially from a decades-long fraudulent scheme.’
The case was tossed out last October when he failed to follow up according to the nypost.
In previous Instagram posts, Azarello stares at the camera and sings about starting a revolution.
He seems to have particular disdain for billionaires such as Mark Zuckerberg and Mark Cuban.
An hour before he self immolated, Azarello posted a text in his Instagram story that just repeated the words ‘I love you.’
Azarello was arrested twice last year for disturbing the peace in Florida.
Mr Azzarello was unknown to police before the incident and did not have a criminal history in New York, police said.
Azarello first walked into the park around 1:30 p.m., took out pamphlets in which he stated his activism and spread them around the park before he doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials said.
Authorities said they were also reviewing the security protocols outside the courthouse.
NYPD’s Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said ‘we’re very concerned,’ and that Azzarello ‘did not breach security protocols.’
