Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal charges in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

Mangione was charged with two federal stalking counts and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison in the 2024 killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The man charged with gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City street nearly two years ago with a 3-D printed pistol pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in Manhattan on Friday as Thompson’s family looked on.

In his allocution to the court, Luigi Mangione, 28, revealed for the first time that in 2024 he posed as a potential investor who managed over $50 billion in assets and emailed leadership at the insurance giant to confirm the location of the investors conference so he could track Thompson’s location.

“My travel to New York and email to UnitedHealthcare was with the intent to shoot Brian Thompson,” Mangione said in his statement. “On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died.”

The admitted gunman — who is Ivy League-educated and hails from a prominent Baltimore family — said he understood his actions “would place [Thompson] in fear of death or serious bodily injury” and that “I knew what I was doing was illegal.”

Mangione also told the judge that he was driven to kill Thompson because of his experience with the healthcare system as a patient with a back injury. Prosecutors have previously said that Mangione had no personal connection to UnitedHealthcare and he was never a customer.