He admitted to ambushing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel in December 2024.
By Catholics for Catholics
In a startling decision that permits him to evade a federal trial, Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to stalking charges of a health care executive.
In an Aug. 14 court hearing, Mangione, 28, conceded to ambushing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel in December 2024.
“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan,” Mangione told the judge.
A high-profile case, the killing of Thompson, a husband and father of two, steered companies to change their security measures, abandon in-person events and delete their websites of top executives’ biographies and photographs, according to a story by Newsmax.
“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.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for @SDNYnews on Luigi Mangione's guilty plea today: “He stands convicted in federal court and faces life in prison. While the defendant pleaded guilty, our office does not have a plea agreement with him. Instead, he pleaded open, which means he… pic.twitter.com/4WvVQf20nT
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) August 14, 2026
Paulette, Thompson’s wife, listening in the audience, took several deep breaths and wiped tears from her eyes.
Mantione’s sentencing is set for Dec. 18, when prosecutors plan to seek a life prison term. 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.”
Thompson’s family, via a statement, 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.
Surveillance video of the killing displayed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, copying 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 point for debate about the industry and made Mangione a cause célèbre for some of its critics.
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