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Luigi Mangione was extradited to New York on Thursday to face charges in the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, in a case that has drawn international attention.
Federal prosecutors filed four charges against Mangione, including murder with a firearm and stalking. The Manhattan district attorney received a separate indictment against Mangione in federal court earlier this week in connection with the killing of Thompson, who headed the nation's largest health insurer.
The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate was scheduled to make his first appearance in a New York court Thursday afternoon. He was transported to federal custody early after waiving his right to stand trial in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last week.
The case has received a mix of outrage and sympathy as authorities look to piece together a motive for Thompson's slaying on a busy morning during rush hour in Midtown Manhattan.
There has been a perverse outpouring of praise from some quarters for Mangione, whose arrest followed a five-day manhunt, among Americans troubled by the state of the nation's expensive health care system.
A federal complaint unsealed Thursday charged Mangione with one count of first degree murder, one count of criminal possession of a firearm and two counts of stalking.
I New York state fees those revealed earlier this week include first-degree murder “in furtherance of an act of terrorism”, and two counts of murder. Manhattan state prosecutors described Thompson's killing as a “targeted and planned” crime and urged the public not to trust Mangione.
“There was no heroism in what Mangione did,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference earlier this week.
The federal complaint cites the same evidence allegedly linking Mangione to the crime that authorities previously presented. When he was arrested in Pennsylvania, authorities said they found the same fake New Jersey ID card used by the suspected shooter to check into a New York hostel before the killings; a gun with a silencer matching the one believed to have been used against Thompson; and clothing that matches what the shooter is wearing as featured in the video.
The complaint also states that when Mangione was arrested, he was carrying a letter stating his intention to “rip off” the chief executive of one of the insurance companies who were at a conference in New York this month.
The journal also said “the objective is insurance” because it “checks every box”, and described the conference as “a real windfall”, according to the complaint.