Luigi Mangione admitted Friday that he killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleading guilty to federal stalking charges in Manhattan federal court as the executive’s widow sat in the gallery and quietly cried.
“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione, 28, said while reading from a prepared letter.
Thompson’s relatives watched him closely as he entered the courtroom with his hands uncuffed behind his back, his ankles in shackles, dressed in a beige prison jumpsuit over a white long-sleeved shirt rolled to his elbows.
Several family members, including Thompson’s widow, sat in the second row, staring at Mangione as he walked in, took his seat, then carefully reviewed and signed a document alongside his attorneys.
“Mr. Mangione is prepared to plead guilty to the indictment at this time,” defense attorney Karen Agnifilo told the judge.
Mangione appeared somber and at times near tears as he answered “yes” to a series of questions covering the legal terms and consequences of his plea.
When Judge Margaret Garnett informed him that he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison, Mangione gave a slight nod.
The courtroom scene stood in sharp contrast to the defiant tone prosecutors have associated with Mangione’s alleged “manifesto,” which laid out his grievance with the health insurance industry.
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 Dec. 18.
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 Sept. 8.
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.
Mangione has attracted a fawning army of unhinged fangirls since the December 2024 killing outside a Manhattan hotel.
The Maryland prep school alum was charged with stalking Thompson, 50, a father of two, leading to his violent death on a Midtown sidewalk. He was not charged with murder in the federal case.
Here’s the latest on accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione’s murder trial
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 shocking public murder to make a violent political 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.”
Mangione’s anti-corporate views have elevated him to a folk hero in extreme leftist circles as political violence has become increasingly accepted as a twisted means to their desired end.
Outside the courthouse, a man rode past after Mangione’s plea screaming twisted words of support.
“America loves Luigi!” the man yelled.
