Luigi Mangione during a pretrial hearing in the U.S. Supreme Court of New York on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.
David Dee Delgado | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty Friday in a federal criminal case charging him with stalking in connection with the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a midtown Manhattan street, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing sources.
Mr. Mangione is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Friday for a pretrial conference with Judge Margaret Garnett, which was called for in Tuesday’s filings by the prosecution and defense.
He is charged separately in New York state court with murdering Thompson and the other Count.
The Times reported Thursday that if Mangione pleads guilty in the federal case, his lawyers are expected to argue that New York’s double jeopardy law prevents him from being charged with murder in the state case.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment when asked by CNBC if Mangione is likely to plead guilty in the federal case. CNBC has reached out to a spokesperson for Mangione’s defense team for comment.
Thompson, 50, was shot and killed in December 2024 outside the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue as he walked to an investor event for his parent company. united health group. Mr. Thompson’s company is the largest health insurance company in the United States.
Jury selection in the state murder case is scheduled to begin Sept. 8.
Mangione’s federal trial is currently scheduled to begin in January.
In January, Garnett dismissed two federal criminal charges against Mangione, including one that accused him of using a firearm to kill Thompson during an alleged stalking incident. Mangione could have received the death penalty if convicted of the crime.
The remaining two charges in the case, interstate stalking resulting in death and interstate use of facility resulting in death, each carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
