Luigi Mangione Expected to Plead Guilty in Federal Court on Friday, Reports Say
Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is expected to plead guilty in federal court on Friday, according to multiple reports.
The reported deal with federal prosecutors comes weeks before jury selection is scheduled to begin in his separate state case. Mangione had previously pleaded not guilty to two federal stalking-related charges that carry the possibility of life in prison, and a federal judge earlier this year dismissed two other counts, including one that had carried the death penalty.
He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Manhattan at 11 a.m. ET on Friday for a conference that was requested earlier this week by prosecutors and his defense lawyers. The terms of the expected plea were not immediately clear. The reports, citing anonymous sources, cautioned that Mangione could still change his mind and that no agreement would be final until he formally accepts it in court. His federal trial had been set to begin in January.
Mangione also faces eight felony counts in state court, including second-degree murder, over Thompson's death in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty, and jury selection is slated to start Sept. 8. If he pleads guilty in the federal case, his lawyers are expected to argue that New York's double jeopardy law bars some or all of the state charges from moving forward.
The case has drawn intense public scrutiny since Thompson was shot and killed in the early morning of Dec. 4, 2024, outside a luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan, where he had been attending an investor conference. Surveillance footage showed a hooded figure approaching the executive from behind and firing multiple shots before fleeing. Investigators recovered shell casings bearing the words "deny," "delay" and "depose" — an apparent reference to a frequently criticized strategy that health insurers are alleged to use to avoid paying out customer claims.
Mangione was arrested five days later at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, nearly 300 miles from New York City. Authorities said he was carrying a notebook with handwritten passages about his own health struggles and vengeful plans; in one entry he allegedly wrote that the "parasites" running health care companies "simply had it coming." He has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
His defense has shifted repeatedly. In June, his lawyers said they planned to use a psychiatric defense in the state trial, then abruptly withdrew that intention after the judge said it would require turning over his psychiatric records. Around the same time, federal prosecutors and his defense team reportedly discussed a possible plea agreement, but those talks fell apart.
If Friday's expected plea is accepted, it would remove the risk of a federal trial and potentially alter the trajectory of the state prosecution. But the deal's specific terms remain unknown, and any agreement could still collapse before Mangione speaks in court.
His appearances have continued to draw crowds of supporters, some of whom view him as a symbol of anger at the U.S. health insurance industry and consider Thompson's killing justified. The case has become a flashpoint in the broader national debate over corporate power, medical costs and the public's frustration with insurers.