Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to federal charges of killing CEO
Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has pleaded not guilty to federal stalking and murder charges.
A New York man has admitted to sending a threatening voicemail to the family of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson hours after he was killed in midtown Manhattan in December 2024.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York announced Thursday that Shane Daly, 40, of Galway, Saratoga County, has pleaded guilty to cyberstalking charges.
The office said Daly admitted as part of his defense that he made multiple calls over several days to a work phone used by Thompson’s family. The call began hours after the 50-year-old CEO was shot and killed by a masked man on December 4, 2024.
Daly also acknowledged using threatening and harassing language expressing satisfaction with Thompson’s death and manner of death, adding that the victim and Thompson’s children deserved a similar outcome, the office said.
“Just hours after the brutal public murder of Brian Thompson, Shane Daly repeatedly terrorized grieving families by glamorizing the loss of a loved one and threatening a similar fate,” said James Barnacle, Jr., deputy director of the FBI’s New York office. “The FBI will not tolerate those who hide behind a screen or keyboard and exploit the suffering of others to inflict senseless suffering.”
Mr. Daly’s sentencing is scheduled for July 17, 2026, and he faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.
“This reprehensible act demands a speedy trial,” said Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “Intimidation and other acts of violence, especially when motivated by commercial, social, political, or religious factors, have no place in our free society.”
Mr. Thompson was shot at around 6:45 a.m. near the Hilton Midtown in New York. He was scheduled to speak at an investment conference as the head of one of the country’s largest health care companies.
Thompson’s alleged assailant, Luigi Mangione, is scheduled to stand trial on state murder charges in the summer of 2026, but has maintained his innocence. Separately, Mangione, 27, faces federal stalking charges that could carry a life sentence. Jury selection for that trial is scheduled to begin in September 2026.
