JUST IN: Luigi Mangione admitted to shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as he pleaded guilty Friday to two federal stalking counts.
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— ABC News (@ABC) August 14, 2026
Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty on Friday to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died,” Mangione told the court as Thompson’s wife, Paulette, wiped tears from her eyes.
When U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett asked whether he understood that he could spend the rest of his life in prison, Mangione replied, “Yes.”
Mangione told the court Friday that he pursued Thompson “after years of enduring severe pain from a broken back and navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system.” He was never was a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company.
Mangione is set for sentencing December 18, 2026.
His defense filed a motion in state court to dismiss the state charges under New York’s double jeopardy law. “New York law does not permit a person to be prosecuted and punished twice for the exact same crime under a statute that governs successive prosecutions,” defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo told reporters.
Mangione has “accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson,” she said, adding, “he’s being prosecuted twice for the same conduct.”
