Luigi Mangione was charged on Thursday with federal murder in connection with the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a crucial step for prosecutors aiming to pursue the death penalty.
The indictment, issued by a grand jury in Manhattan federal court, also includes two counts of stalking and a firearms charge against Mangione.
It remains uncertain when the 26-year-old Mangione will appear for arraignment. A request for comment was sent to a representative for his legal team.
Mangione, an Ivy League alumnus from a well-known real estate family in Maryland, is also facing separate murder charges at the state level. He is alleged to have shot Thompson, 50, in the back outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4, as the executive was arriving for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced earlier this month that she had instructed federal prosecutors in Manhattan to seek the death penalty, fulfilling the president’s campaign commitment to actively pursue capital punishment.
This marks the first instance of the Justice Department seeking the death penalty since President Donald Trump took office in January, pledging to resume federal executions that had been suspended under the previous administration.
The murder and the subsequent five-day manhunt that led to Mangione’s capture unsettled the business sector, prompting some health insurers to quickly transition to remote work or virtual shareholder meetings.
Additionally, the incident has energized critics of health insurance, with some rallying around Mangione as a symbol of their frustrations regarding coverage denials and exorbitant medical expenses.
Surveillance footage captured a masked assailant shooting Thompson from behind. Authorities reported that the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” were inscribed on the ammunition, echoing a phrase often used to describe tactics employed by insurers to evade claim payments.