LUIGI Mangione is expected to plead guilty in federal court on Friday in connection with the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson.
The bombshell update comes as Mangione, the 28-year-old Ivy League graduate, was weeks away from going on trial in a separate case in state court on September 8.
Mangione appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday for his final pretrial hearing before jury selection was scheduled to begin.
However, hours after the court was adjourned, an impromptu hearing in federal court was scheduled for Friday morning between Mangione, his defense team, and federal prosecutors.
Now, Mangione, who is facing two federal counts of stalking resulting in death and firearms offenses, is reportedly set to agree to a plea deal, according to The New York Times.
The terms of the plea deal, including what charges Mangione will plead guilty to, remain unclear.
If a federal judge approves the plea deal it could derail Mangione’s impending state trial.
Mangione is facing multiple state charges, including second-degree murder, weapons possession, and possession of a forged instrument.
He is facing up to 25 years to life in prison if the trial moves ahead and he is convicted.
Mangione’s federal trial is scheduled to begin in January 2027.
He pleaded not guilty in both cases.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it was prepared to lobby the federal judge presiding over Mangione’s case for a stiff sentence should the defendant’s plea deal be approved.
“If a proposed federal guilty plea would operate to defeat a just outcome in the state prosecution, the People could advise the federal district court if that consequence, and the court should consider that fact in deciding whether to accept the plea, as well as any opposition by the victim’s family to such a resolution,” the DA’s office told ABC News.
Since his dramatic extradition to New York in December 2024, Mangione’s lead defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has sought to dismiss the state’s murder indictment on the grounds of double jeopardy.
Double jeopardy prohibits a defendant from being tried for the same crime twice; however, the Manhattan district attorney’s office could argue the state charges against Mangione are different from those in the federal indictment.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 2024, after a cashier at the fast food restaurant called police to report that he looked like the shooter from New York.
The shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson sparked a five-day manhunt after the executive was shot in cold blood by a masked, hooded individual outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, 2024.
Surveillance footage captured the moment the shooter brazenly sneaks up behind Thompson, 50, and fired several shots from a ghost gun, killing the healthcare executive.
The shooter, suspected to be Mangione, then walks away and is later captured on a surveillance camera jumping on a Citi Bike e-bike and pedals uptown before zooming into Central Park and later exiting around 77th Street.
Video later revealed the gunman walked to 86th Street and Columbus Avenue, where he took a taxi to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown, leaving the New York City area.
At the crime scene, investigators discovered spent shell casings that had the words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend” written on them.
It’s been speculated that the words refer to the book Delay, Deny, Defend, which unpacks the failings of insurance companies.
When Altoona police arrested Mangione, they found a bookbag in his possession, which allegedly contained several fake identification cards, a loaded 9mm pistol equipped with a silencer, a notebook, and thousands of dollars in cash.
The notebook contained several “handwritten pages that express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particle,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Mangione had planned Thompson’s assassination as early as August 15, 2024.
“The details are finally coming together, the details are finally coming together, and I’m glad – in a way- that I’ve procrastinated,” Mangione allegedly wrote, saying the delay helped him learn more about UnitedHealthCare.
He also allegedly “targeted insurance” because it “checks every box.”
Thompson was on his way to an investor conference being held at the Hilton hotel on the day he was assassinated.
