Luigi Mangione, accused killer of US insurance CEO Brian Thompson, sits in Manhattan Supreme Court as he attends a hearing in New York City on Feb. 21, 2025.
Steven Hirsch | AFP | Getty Images
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday said she had ordered federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the case against Luigi Mangione in connection with the December slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.
“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement issued by the Department of Justice.
“After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again,” the attorney general said.
Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, is being prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with federal crimes, including murder, stalking, and fireams charges, related to Thompson’s killing outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4.
Thompson, whose company is the largest payer of health insurance benefits in the United States, was headed into the hotel for an investor meeting of its parent, UnitedHealth Group.
The DOJ in its statement Tuesday said that Thompson’s “murder was an act of political violence.”
“Mangione’s actions involved substantial planning and premeditation and because the murder took place in public with bystanders nearby, may have posed grave risk of death to additional persons,” the statement said.
Mangione, 26, also faces state criminal charges in Manhattan Supreme Court, which is a trial level court.
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