Luigi Mangione expected to plead guilty in federal case: Report

Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty Friday in his federal criminal case, where he is charged with stalking in connection with his alleged killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a midtown Manhattan street in 2024, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing sources.

Mangione is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Friday for a pretrial conference with Judge Margaret Garnett, which was requested in a court filing on Tuesday by both prosecutors and defense lawyers.

He is separately charged in New York state court with murdering Thompson and other counts.

If Mangione does plead guilty in the federal case, his attorneys are expected to argue that he cannot be prosecuted for murder in the state case because of New York’s double jeopardy law, The Times noted in its report Thursday.

A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment to CNBC when asked if Mangione is expected to plead guilty in the federal case. CNBC has requested comment from a spokeswoman for Mangione’s defense team.

Thompson, 50, was fatally shot outside the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue in December 2024 while walking to an investors’ event for his company’s parent, UnitedHealth Group. Thompson’s company is the largest health insurer in the United States.

Jury selection in the state murder case is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8.

Mangione’s federal trial is currently scheduled to begin in January.

Garnett in January dismissed two federal criminal counts against Mangione, including one that accused him of the murder of Thompson through the use of a firearm during alleged stalking. Mangione had faced the possibility of receiving the death penalty if convicted on that count.

The two remaining counts in the case — interstate stalking resulting in death and stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death — each carry a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.