Luigi Mangione admits killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleads guilty to stalking charges

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court in Manhattan to stalking that resulted in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson nearly two years ago on a midtown sidewalk, roughly a month before he is scheduled to go to trial for virtually the same crime in New York State court.

In a stunning reversal, the 28-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family admitted stalking the insurance executive outside the New York Hilton Midtown at 6:45 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2024, and fatally shooting him.

"I shot Mr. Thompson and he died,” Mangione told U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, his voice businesslike. “I knew what I was doing was illegal.”

Mangione still faces second-degree murder and weapons charges in New York State court. His attorneys filed a motion just minutes after he pleaded guilty asking for the state charges to be dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. The dual prosecutions, the motion filed by attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said, violates “Mr. Mangione’s Fifth Amendment due process rights.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Mangione on the state charges, said his office is ready for the trial.

"Since December 2024, the Manhattan DA's office has been tirelessly preparing to pursue a trial in New York State Supreme Court for the alleged cold-blooded murder of Brian Thompson," a Bragg spokesperson said in a statement. "While federal sentencing is pending, we are prepared to litigate the defense motions."

In federal court on Friday, Mangione pleaded guilty to two counts — stalking that led to the death of Thompson, and using an electronic communication device to stalk Thompson, resulting in his death. Garnett ordered him to return to court on Dec. 18 for sentencing. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

He did not express remorse — or any emotion — when questioned by Garnett, replying “yes” or “no” to most of her questions.

When Garnett asked him what he had done to warrant the guilty pleas, Mangione admitted using interstate buses on Nov. 24, 2024, and Dec. 4, 2024, to travel to Manhattan to stalk and kill Thompson, 50, a father from Minnesota.

Mangione told Garnett that he had suffered from pain for years due to a back injury, and came to New York “with the stated mission to make the healthcare system better for everybody.”

Mangione said he posed as a potential investor in an email to UnitedHealthcare to get information about the investor conference Thompson was attending in New York.

The University of Pennsylvania graduate has been hailed as a folk hero by many Americans frustrated with insurance companies and the high cost of healthcare. There were fewer supporters at Friday’s hearing than at previous court appearances, although one man held a sign that said “Justice, not vengeance” before the Manhattan courthouse opened on Friday morning.

UnitedHealthcare issued a statement shortly after Mangione’s hearing had concluded: "Brian Thompson's life was cut short by an act of violence that devastated everyone who knew and loved him. We are grateful to law enforcement for bringing Brian's murderer to justice, and our thoughts remain with Brian's family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

For nearly two years, Mangione’s lawyers had maintained his innocence, attacking the prosecutors’ cases in New York State and federal court as flawed and overreaching, successfully fending off terrorism charges and a death penalty bid by the U.S. attorney general.

Still, they were unable to surmount the overwhelming evidence that their client had practically delivered to law enforcement, thanks to a tip to police from a McDonald’s worker in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Assistant United States Attorney Dominic Gentile told Garnett the government was prepared to show at trial surveillance video that showed Mangione arriving in New York by bus, following Thompson in midtown Manhattan and shooting Thompson.

He said authorities also recovered a 9 mm gun when Mangione was arrested in Altoona, along with a notebook that included plans for the shooting, which investigators described as a manifesto containing a written confession and a diatribe against the healthcare industry.

There was also DNA retrieved from the scene that matched Mangione and eyewitness accounts, the prosecutor said.

Mangione’s defense lawyers are now seeking to have New York State murder charges dismissed. At a February hearing, Mangione hinted at a strategy that his lawyers could turn to in the state case.

"This is double jeopardy," Mangione shouted during that court appearance. "One plus one equals two. This is the same trial twice."

In the double jeopardy motion, Friedman Agnifilo asked acting Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro to dismiss the remaining case against Mangione, with the exception of the charge against him for carrying a fake New Jersey driver's license.

Friedman Agnifilo argued that all the other charges were barred from prosecution under New York law and the Fifth Amendment's double jeopardy clause because he had already pleaded guilty to the crimes in federal court.

"The two sovereigns, acting as one, attempted to ensure that Mr. Mangione would be prosecuted twice for the same criminal acts," she wrote in her brief.

The defense attorney referred to Mangione as a "pawn in parallel prosecutions" that "sensationalized this case and misapplied statutes in an effort to overcharge him."