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Reading out a statement to the court, Luigi Mangione admitted to shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, as ITV News US Correspondent Robert Moore reports
Luigi Mangione has admitted to fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, telling a federal court: “I shot him.”
Mangione made the confession during a federal court hearing in Manhattan on Friday, where he pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of Mr Thompson.
The federal charges accuse Mangione of stalking Thompson to cause his death.
Mangione’s guilty plea resolves one of two cases against him in connection with Mr Thompson’s death.
He is still due to stand trial for state murder charges on September 8, which he has pleaded not guilty to.
When reading out his statement in court, the 28-year-old said: “I shot Mr Thompson and he died.
“I knew what I was doing was illegal.”
With his guilty plea in federal court, his lawyers could seek to have the state case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds.
Mangione’s defence lawyer, Karen Friedman, said outside court: “Mr Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson.”
She argued her client shouldn’t face two prosecutions over a “single tragic event”.
Mangione told the court that “after years of enduring pain from a broken back” and witnessing similar experiences of others, he said he learned UnitedHealthcare would be holding its annual investor conference in December 2024.
The defendant said the public location wasn’t posted, but he researched to learn the location and who would be there.
UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson was killed in December 2024. Credit: AP
“In November of 2024 I travelled from outside of New York state to Manhattan. I then emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership, posing as an investor at a firm managing over $15 billion (£11 billion) in assets and requesting information about the conference. Unlike my previous interactions with insurers, I received an immediate response within an hour,” Mangione said.
Mangione was charged by both federal and state prosecutors with ambushing Mr Thompson, 50, outside a New York City hotel on December 4 2024, as the insurance executive walked to his company’s annual investor conference.
Surveillance video of the killing showed a masked gunman shooting Mr Thompson from behind.
Police said “delay”, “deny”, and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Police released a picture of the suspect involved in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Credit: AP
There were also revelations that Mangione’s private writings lambasted health insurers as greedy, according to authorities.
Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was never a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company.
He was arrested five days after the shooting, when he was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It’s about 230 miles (370 kilometres) west of Manhattan.
Mr Thompson, meanwhile, led one of the United States’ largest health insurers, but he wasn’t well known outside the industry.
Trained as an accountant, he had worked at parent company UnitedHealth Group Inc for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, in 2021.
Mangione is escorted by the police in 2024. Credit: AP
A trial on state murder charges is scheduled to start next month. It is unclear whether that trial will go forward following Mangione’s guilty plea in the federal case.
Both the federal and state cases could lead to a life prison sentence. A federal judge earlier this year tossed out additional charges that could have exposed Mangione to a potential death penalty.
Mangione had complained about the prospect of two trials, telling a judge in February: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”
Under New York law, a state prosecution could potentially be barred if the federal case is resolved first.
The state’s double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in a prior prosecution, such as a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a guilty plea.
Mangione’s cases involve different charges arising from the same course of conduct.
In a letter last month, state prosecutors objected to the possibility of a guilty plea in the federal case wiping out the state case.
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US District Judge Margaret M Garnett has delivered some setbacks to the defence, including 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.
In June, Mangione’s lawyers said they would pursue a psychiatric defence in the state case but went back on this decision a day later.
The defence, involving claims that he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killing, isn’t allowed in federal court.
His sentencing has been scheduled for December 18.
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