Former Sea Cliff resident dies after self-immolating outside of Donald Trump's trial

The man who lit himself on fire on April 19 outside of the Manhattan Supreme Courthouse where former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial is being held has been confirmed to be Max Azzarello, 37, formerly of Sea Cliff. Azzarello, who had moved to St. Augustine, Florida some years ago according to Mayor Elena Villafane and Village Administrator Bruce Kennedy. Azzarello, described as an "investigative researcher" on his LinkedIn profile, died from his injuries at approximately 10:30 p.m. later that day according to the New York Police Department.

Before self-immolating, Azzarello distributed a several self-authored pamphlets titled “The Ponzi Papers, which claims that multiple organizations, from Harvard to Facebook, are involved in a global conspiracy using cryptocurrency as a multi-trillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. According to multiple news sources Azzarello was also seen beforehand holding several signs, including one which read “Trump is with Biden, and they’re about to fascist coup us.”