Federal prosecutors heading into an October retrial say the man accused of igniting the 2025 Palisades Fire, the third most destructive wildfire in California history, was motivated by deep-seated hatred of the rich and a desire for "societal revenge."
Jonathan Rinderknecht, a 29-year-old former Uber driver and U.S.-French dual national, faces up to 45 years in prison on three federal charges: destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire. He has pleaded not guilty. His first trial ended in a mistrial in June after jurors deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal following 14 hours of deliberation. A retrial is set to begin October 19, 2026, before U.S. District Court Judge Anne Hwang.
The case centers on a fire Rinderknecht allegedly started on New Year's Day 2025 on a hillside in Pacific Palisades, the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood. Prosecutors say that initial blaze, known as the Lachman Fire, smoldered underground for six days before erupting on January 7 into the full Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people, burned 23,707 acres, and destroyed 6,833 structures. Cal Fire ranks it as the third most destructive wildfire in state history.
A federal prosecution memo filed in U.S. District Court lays out what the government calls a pattern of ideological hostility toward wealth and capitalism in the weeks and months before the fire. As the Washington Free Beacon reported, the memo details internet searches Rinderknecht conducted on December 12 and 13, 2024, less than three weeks before the alleged arson. Those searches included the terms "free Luigi Mangione," "lets take down all the billionaires," and "reddit lets kill all the billionaires."
Luigi Mangione had been charged that same month in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City. The case drew widespread attention and, in some corners, open sympathy for the suspect, a reaction prosecutors now argue resonated with Rinderknecht.
When investigators interviewed Rinderknecht on January 24, 2025, they asked why someone might commit arson in Pacific Palisades. His answer, preserved in the prosecution memo:
"It would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as 'we're basically being enslaved by them.'"
Assistant U.S. Attorney Danbee Kim put the motive in blunter terms during closing arguments at the June trial. Rinderknecht, she told jurors, "had a deeply entrenched belief that the wealthy were destroying the world." A second prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt O'Brien, framed it even more directly in opening statements covered by the Associated Press:
"He wanted revenge, revenge against society because he blamed society for all his troubles."
Court filings authored by ATF Special Agent William Schry, a certified fire investigator, reveal that Rinderknecht's digital trail extends well before December 2024. On July 11, 2024, roughly six months before the fire, Rinderknecht submitted a prompt to ChatGPT asking for a dystopian painting. The prompt described a scene in which a burning forest gives way to crowds of impoverished people struggling to get past "a gigantic gate with a big dollar sign on it," while on the other side, "a conglomerate of the richest people" are "chilling, watching the world burn down, and watching the people struggle. They are laughing, enjoying themselves, and dancing."
Prosecutors presented thousands of ChatGPT conversations recovered from Rinderknecht's devices. In one exchange, he wrote: "I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing. I felt so liberated." He sent a similar message to a family member: "Burned the Bible I had literally."
A behavioral analyst who testified during the June trial reinforced the government's theory. Kevin Kelm, a former ATF supervisory special agent and FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit member, told the court that Rinderknecht's actions matched the profile of someone driven by "societal revenge", an individual who fixates on personal problems such as finances, relationships, and lifestyle frustrations he cannot cope with, then directs that anger outward. Fox News reported that Kelm connected Rinderknecht's ChatGPT usage and cellphone data to that behavioral pattern.
The prosecution's case is not built on ideology alone. Cellular data and security camera footage placed Rinderknecht's vehicle in the Summit Hill neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, driving down from Buddha Hill shortly after the fire ignited on January 1. Investigators found a green Bic barbecue lighter in his car, a lighter Rinderknecht admitted to having on the trail.
His behavior after the fire drew its own scrutiny. The New York Post reported that Rinderknecht screen-recorded his own 911 call while simultaneously asking ChatGPT, "Are you at fault if a fire is lit because of your cigarettes?" Investigators believe he was fabricating an alternative explanation for the fire's origin in real time. ATF Special Agent Michael Montevidoni testified that the recording appeared designed to create "an alternative reason for why the fire was started and have a record to show at a later period."
Rinderknecht also refused to give investigators his iPhone password, claiming it would take "thousands of years" to unlock and that he had programmed software to remotely wipe the phone if connected to law enforcement tools. Prosecutors say he attempted to delete his iCloud data, a move they characterize as obstruction.
Rinderknecht's defense team has pushed back hard. Attorney Steve Haney told jurors in opening statements that "when all the evidence is in, there will be one thing missing: proof that Jonathan Rinderknecht started that fire on Jan. 1." The defense has argued that New Year's fireworks, not arson, ignited the Lachman Fire, and that Rinderknecht cannot be held responsible for a larger blaze that erupted six days later.
Defense attorneys have also pointed the finger at firefighters, arguing that their client is being used as a scapegoat for the failure to fully extinguish the initial Lachman blaze before it reignited. The defense maintains that holding anti-capitalist views and being emotionally vulnerable does not make someone an arsonist.
The jury's 10-2 lean toward acquittal suggests the government faces a real challenge at retrial. But prosecutors have made clear they are not backing down. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said after the mistrial that "the evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 1, 2025, which eventually became the Palisades fire."
The criminal case has unfolded against a backdrop of competing narratives about what caused the devastation. In February 2025, then-Vice President Kamala Harris posted on Instagram that the fires were "made worse by the climate crisis." Veteran Los Angeles Times reporter Mark Arax published a New York Times opinion piece blaming the fires on climate change denial promoted by Rupert Murdoch and Fox News.
Federal prosecutors are telling a different story. They say a man with a barbecue lighter, a phone full of anti-capitalist ChatGPT conversations, and internet searches celebrating a suspected killer walked onto a hillside in one of America's wealthiest neighborhoods and set it on fire. If the government is right, the Palisades Fire was not a climate event. It was a crime, one driven by the same class-war ideology that a growing number of public figures have treated as mainstream commentary rather than a warning sign.
Rinderknecht's retrial is scheduled to begin October 19. A status conference is set for later this month. He has pleaded not guilty to all three charges, and faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
Twelve people are dead and thousands lost their homes. The least the public deserves is an honest accounting of why, even if the answer is less comfortable than blaming the weather.
