Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing
of UnitedHealthcare CEO
[August 15, 2026]
By MICHAEL R. SISAK, LARRY NEUMEISTER and JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty on Friday to federal
stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson,
admitting matter-of-factly that he trailed the executive to an investor
conference and gunned him down on a New York City street in 2024.
Mangione, 28, said he made a gun with the aid of a 3D printer, traveled
to New York and used a ruse — posing as an investor at a
multibillion-dollar firm — to contact the company for details on the
event.
"On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and
he died,” Mangione told the Manhattan federal court, which he entered
shackled at the feet but not handcuffed in his beige jail uniform.
Listening in the audience, Thompson's wife, Paulette, took several deep
breaths and repeatedly wiped tears from her eyes.
Prosecutors plan to seek a life prison term at Mangione's sentencing,
set for Dec. 18. When U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett asked
whether he understood that he could spend the rest of his life behind
bars, Mangione answered neutrally: “Yes.”
In a statement, Thompson’s family called the plea “an important step
toward justice” and noted that Mangione still faces other cases,
including a New York state murder prosecution. It carries the potential
for a separate long sentence.
Mangione still faces a state murder case
Federal prosecutors didn’t give Mangione any deal or incentive to plead
guilty, they and his lawyers said. Nor did Mangione plead guilty to
avoid a potential death sentence. That possibility was taken off the
table when a federal murder charge was tossed out this winter.
Mangione’s lawyers didn’t explain why he choose to plead guilty now, but
after he entered the plea at Friday’s hastily scheduled hearing, they
quickly sought to have the New York case thrown out on double jeopardy
grounds. The state’s double jeopardy protections can kick in if a prior
prosecution ends in a guilty plea.
“Mr. Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian
Thompson,” defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said outside court,
arguing that her client shouldn’t face two prosecutions over a “single
tragic event.”
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is handling the state
prosecution, said it remains committed to its case and would contest the
defense’s efforts to shut it down.
Mangione alludes to back pain in explaining his actions
Surveillance video of the ambush showed a masked gunman shooting
Thompson, 50, from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were
written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how
insurers avoid paying claims.
That detail — and revelations that Mangione's private writings lambasted
health insurers as greedy, according to authorities — made the case a
fulcrum for debate about the industry and made Mangione a cause célčbre
for some of its critics.
A University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family,
Mangione told the court Friday that he pursued Thompson “after years of
enduring severe pain from a broken back, navigating the obstacles of the
health insurance system and witnessing similar experiences of countless
others.”
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A man holds a sign outside of Manhattan Federal Court on the day of
a hearing for Luigi Mangione on Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, in New York.
(AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Friedman Agnifilo later said her client “believed that the system
had failed him and destroyed his life.”
Authorities say Mangione's grievances are no excuse for killing
Mangione never was a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police
and the company.
“To those who idolize Luigi Mangione, I say this. Violence is not a
cause. Murder is not a message. And a killer is certainly not a
hero,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said outside court
Friday.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, whose office handled the federal case,
added: “There can be no celebrity in assassination."
Thompson led one of the United States' largest health insurers, but
he wasn't well known outside the industry. Trained as an accountant,
he worked at parent company UnitedHealth Group Inc. for 20 years and
became CEO of its insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, in 2021. He and
his wife had two sons, who were in high school when their father was
killed.
Thompson's violent death “devastated everyone who knew and loved
him,” the company said in a statement Friday, thanking law
enforcement for bringing Mangione to justice.
His defense had lost some disputes over evidence
Mangione was arrested five days after the shooting, when he was
spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles
(370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. Police had released various
images of the suspected shooter, including one showing his face as
he checked into a hostel.
Although his lawyers got the federal murder charge dismissed,
Garnett also delivered some setbacks to the defense, ruling in
January that prosecutors could use items collected from Mangione’s
backpack during his arrest as evidence against him. They included a
3D-printed pistol that investigators said matched the one used to
kill Thompson and a notebook in which authorities say Mangione
described his intent to kill an insurance executive.
Similarly, the judge in the state case threw out terrorism charges
against Mangione but agreed to let the gun and notebook be used as
evidence. The case has been heading toward a September trial, but
his lawyers' new bid to dismiss it could complicate the timeline.
___
Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and
Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed.
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