Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday in New York federal court to stalking UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson before fatally shooting him on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024, admitting for the first time in detail how he planned the killing.
In his allocution, Mangione said he emailed UnitedHealthcare posing as an investor managing more than $50 billion in assets to learn the exact location of the company's investor conference. "Before traveling to New York, I used a 3-D printer to make part of a gun, and I equipped the gun with the silencer and the magazine," he told the court. "My travel to New York and email to UnitedHealthcare was with the intent to shoot Brian Thompson... On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died."
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said prosecutors will seek a life sentence on the charges of interstate stalking resulting in death and using electronic communications to stalk the CEO. Thompson's family, present in court, said in a statement that "today's guilty plea marks an important step toward justice for Brian and for our family." Mangione remains in federal custody pending sentencing, scheduled for December 18, and still faces separate murder charges in New York state court, which his lawyers are seeking to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds.