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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<\/p>\n
Luigi Mangione has admitted to fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, telling a federal court: “I shot him.”<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
The federal charges accuse Mangione of stalking Thompson to cause his death. <\/p>\n
Mangione’s guilty plea resolves one of two cases against him in connection with Mr Thompson\u2019s death. <\/p>\n
He is still due to stand trial for state murder charges on September 8, which he has pleaded not guilty to.<\/p>\n
When reading out his statement in court, the 28-year-old said: \u201cI shot Mr Thompson and he died. <\/p>\n
\u201cI knew what I was doing was illegal.\u201d <\/p>\n
With his guilty plea in federal court, his lawyers could seek to have the state case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds. <\/p>\n
Mangione’s defence lawyer, Karen Friedman, said outside court: \u201cMr Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson.”<\/p>\n
She argued her client shouldn’t face two prosecutions over a \u201csingle tragic event”. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The defendant said the public location wasn\u2019t posted, but he researched to learn the location and who would be there.<\/p>\n
UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson was killed in December 2024. Credit: AP<\/p>\n
“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 (\u00a311 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Surveillance video of the killing showed a masked gunman shooting Mr Thompson from behind. <\/p>\n
Police said “delay”, “deny”, and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims. <\/p>\n
Police released a picture of the suspect involved in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Credit: AP<\/p>\n
There were also revelations that Mangione’s private writings lambasted health insurers as greedy, according to authorities.<\/p>\n
Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was never a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company. <\/p>\n
He was arrested five days after the shooting, when he was spotted at a McDonald\u2019s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It’s about 230 miles (370 kilometres) west of Manhattan. <\/p>\n
Mr Thompson, meanwhile, led one of the United States’ largest health insurers, but he wasn’t well known outside the industry. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Mangione is escorted by the police in 2024. Credit: AP<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Mangione had complained about the prospect of two trials, telling a judge in February: “It\u2019s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”<\/p>\n
Under New York law, a state prosecution could potentially be barred if the federal case is resolved first. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Mangione\u2019s cases involve different charges arising from the same course of conduct. <\/p>\n
In a letter last month, state prosecutors objected to the possibility of a guilty plea in the federal case wiping out the state case. <\/p>\n