Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday to federal stalking charges in the brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, delivering a blunt confession as the executive’s widow cried silently in the courtroom gallery.
“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione, 28, told Manhattan federal court while reading from a prepared letter.
Thompson’s relatives glared as Mangione entered in a beige prison jumpsuit over a long-sleeved white shirt, its sleeves rolled to his elbows. His hands were uncuffed behind his back, but his ankles were shackled.
The slain executive’s widow and several other family members sat in the second row, watching Mangione take his seat and carefully review and sign paperwork alongside his attorneys.
“Mr. Mangione is prepared to plead guilty to the indictment at this time,” defense attorney Karen Agnifilo told the judge.
Mangione had been scheduled to face a federal jury in January on two charges: interstate stalking resulting in death and stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life behind bars.
He was not charged with murder in the federal case.
Mangione still faces a separate state prosecution on charges of second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
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Jury selection in that case is scheduled to begin Sept. 8.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett warned Mangione that any sentence imposed in the state case could run consecutively to his federal sentence.
The guilty plea marked a stunning turn in the prosecution of Mangione, who has gained a disturbing cult following of adoring fangirls since Thompson was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel in December 2024.
Federal prosecutors accused the Maryland prep school graduate of stalking Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, before killing him on a Midtown sidewalk.
Mangione fled after the shooting, setting off a frantic five-day manhunt that ended when police arrested him as he ate breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Authorities said Mangione had written a “manifesto” laying out his hostility toward the health insurance business. Prosecutors said he targeted the UnitedHealthcare boss outside the company’s annual investor conference as a way to “rebel against the deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel.”
The killing was intended as a bloody political message, according to prosecutors.
Investigators found shell casings at the scene etched with the words “delay” and “deny,” an apparent reference to terms critics say insurance companies use when refusing to pay customer claims.
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