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Luigi Mangione indicted on terror prices in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO


Luigi Mangione has been indicted by a New York grand jury for the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in early December.

The jury voted to cost Mr. Mangione with one depend of first-degree homicide in furtherance of terrorism and two counts of second-degree homicide, one depend of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism, Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg mentioned Dec. 17.

“This was a daunting, well-planned, focused homicide that was supposed to trigger shock, consideration, and intimidation,” Mr. Bragg mentioned.

Mr. Mangione has been in custody at a Pennsylvania state jail since his Dec. 9 arrest by native authorities. He fatally shot Mr. Thompson on Dec. 4 outdoors of the New York Hilton Midtown, the place UnitedHealth Group was internet hosting its annual investor day convention. 

Upon arrest, officers recovered a handwritten manifesto relating to Mr. Mangione’s motivation and mindset, the place he expressed contempt towards company America and the healthcare trade. The phrases “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” had been additionally written on shell casings discovered on the crime scene.

Mr. Mangione is scheduled to look in Pennsylvania court docket on the morning of Dec. 19 for firearm and forgery prices associated to the homicide. An extradition listening to is scheduled instantly after that, which can be waived by the defendant. 

The homicide has sparked a firestorm of on-line vitriol and hostility towards insurers extra broadly, and lots of have taken to social media to share their experiences with delayed and denied care by UnitedHealthcare and different insurers.

“Within the almost two weeks since Mr. Thompson’s killing, we’ve seen a surprising and appalling celebration of chilly blooded homicide,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned at a Dec. 17 press convention. “Social media has erupted with reward for this cowardly assault. Individuals ghoulishly plastered posters threatening different CEOs, with an X over Mr. Thompson’s image as if he was some form of sick trophy.”

“These are the threats of a violent, lawless mob who would commerce in their very own vigilantism for the rule of legislation that protects us all,” she mentioned. “There isn’t any heroism in what Mangione did.”

On Dec. 10, a Florida girl was arrested and charged after telling a Blue Cross Blue Defend worker over the cellphone, “Delay, deny, depose. You individuals are subsequent,” in response to a denied declare, ABC Information reported.

One federal lawmaker described the homicide as unjustified however not stunning, and a few insurance coverage CEOs have publicly expressed comparable sentiments.

AHIP, the commerce affiliation representing well being insurers, wrote on LinkedIn on Dec. 12: “These in positions of management should condemn violence with out qualification or equivocation. Something in need of that isn’t solely irresponsible — it is harmful.”

For the reason that deadly capturing, insurers have tightened safety round their executives, canceling conferences or transferring them to digital codecs, quickly closing workplaces, and eradicating biographical data on-line.

UnitedHealth Group staff have been “barraged by threats” within the days for the reason that assault, CEO Andrew Witty wrote in a Dec. 13 op-ed revealed in The New York Instances, the place he additionally expressed sympathy with the general public’s frustrations over the healthcare system.

“No staff — be they the individuals who reply buyer calls or nurses who go to sufferers of their houses — ought to need to concern for his or her and their family members’ security,” he wrote.”We all know the well being system doesn’t work in addition to it ought to, and we perceive individuals’s frustrations with it. Healthcare is each intensely private and really difficult, and the explanations behind protection choices should not properly understood. We share a few of the accountability for that.”

Mr. Thompson, 50, was named CEO of UnitedHealthcare in April 2021. He first joined Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group in 2004 and held quite a few management positions throughout the corporate. Earlier than UnitedHealth, he held administration roles at PwC in Minnesota. He graduated with a bachelor’s of enterprise administration and accounting from the College of Iowa in 1997.

Mr. Thompson was “by no means content material with the established order,” Mr. Witty wrote, and was devoted to enhancing healthcare. 

“The concepts he advocated had been aimed toward making healthcare extra inexpensive, extra clear, extra intuitive, extra compassionate — and extra human,” he wrote. “That is Brian’s legacy, one that we’ll carry ahead by persevering with our work to make the well being system work higher for everybody.”

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