Luigi Mangione Pleads Guilty to Federal Stalking & Killing Insurance CEO
He’ll now face a sentencing hearing on December 18th while still awaiting a State trial on the charges of murder, multiples charges of possession of weapon, and possession of a forged instrument.
Luigi Mangione, 28, admitted to killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleading guilty this morning to federal stalking charges:
“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione said in Manhattan federal court, reading from a written letter.
The Maryland prep school alum was charged with stalking Thompson, 50, leading to his death on a Midtown sidewalk. He was not charged with murder in the federal case because the killing was deemed a state matter.
He then led authorities on a dramatic five-day manhunt before local cops in Altoona, Pa. finally nabbed him while he was eating breakfast at a local McDonald’s.
Prosecutors say Mangione penned a “manifesto” detailing motive to kill the UnitedHealthcare CEO outside the company’s annual investor conference was a way to “rebel against the deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel.”
They say he plotted the murder to make apolitical statement, leaving behind bullet casings at the scene with the words “delay” and “deny” etched into them, a nod to language insurers allegedly use to dodge paying out customers’ claims.
He allegedly wrote that other high-level executives of insurance providers were fair game because the industry “literally extracts human life force for money.”
Defense Attorney Karen Agnifilo told the judge:
“Mr. Mangione is prepared to plead guilty to the indictment at this time.”
Mangione looked solemn, close to choking up, as he said “yes” to a series of questions about the legal specifics of his plea.
He nodded his head slightly when Judge Margaret Garnett told him that the maximum sentence he could face is a potential life sentence.
The defiance that defined Mangione’s alleged “manifesto” detailing his ax to grind with the health insurance industry had seemingly seeped away in the courtroom.
The now-admitted killer’s written speech methodically detailed his grudges over enduring years of severe back pain and eventual plot against Thompson.
He revealed that he even posed as an investor at a firm managing $150 million in assets in an email to UnitedHealthcare leadership to score details about their 2024 conference in New York City.
“Before traveling to New York, I used a 3-D printer to make a gun,” he said. “I equipped the gun with a silencer and a magazine.”
Mangione had been set to begin his federal court trial in January on the two counts—interstate stalking resulting in death and stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death.
He’ll now face a sentencing hearing on December 18th.
Mangione is still charged with murder in the second-degree, criminal possession of a forged instrument, also in the second-degree, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon in state court.
Jury selection for his state trial is set to kick off on September 8th.
His lawyers confirmed after the plea hearing that they’ll file a motion in state court arguing it’d constitute double jeopardy if he’s convicted in that case.
US District Judge Margaret Garnett warned Mangione on Friday that his potential sentence in the state case could come consecutively.
