UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s accused killer Luigi Mangione was once beaten up by a group of transgender women during a night out in Thailand months before he carried out the murder. The 27-year-old is believed to have bragged to friends in a WhatsApp conversation about his nightlife while backpacking through Asia before he returned to the US in July 2024, the New York Times reported. In December of the same year, he allegedly shot Thompson dead.
Mangione claimed in one message that he was roughed up by seven “ladyboys,” which is a colloquial term for transgender women, in Bangkok. He even shared a photo of his bruised and scratched arm, texts reviewed by the outlet revealed.
Luigi Mangione’s solo trip
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate, went on a solo trip abroad in early 2024. Along the way, he befriended soccer player Christian Sacchini and an unidentified companion.
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Sacchini met Mangione at a Bangkok pub in March. The soccer player revealed that the accused killer initially began talking about video games and Pokemon, but later started to rant about how “effed up” the US healthcare system is compared to Thailand.
“He couldn’t believe it,” Sacchini said while describing how shocked Mangione was at the low cost of an MRI in the Southeast Asian nation.
{{/usCountry}}“He couldn’t believe it,” Sacchini said while describing how shocked Mangione was at the low cost of an MRI in the Southeast Asian nation.
{{/usCountry}}After Mangione returned to San Francisco in July, family and friends noticed that he had stopped responding to messages. He also became noticeably absent from social media months earlier.
In a diary entry in August, Mangione revealed that he had been sleeping poorly and feeling “foggy” while talking about how to battle what he believed was injustice. “I finally feel confident about what I’ll do,” he wrote. “The details are finally coming together. And I don’t feel any doubt about whether it’s right/justified. I’m glad – in a way – that I’ve procrastinated, bc it allowed me to learn more about UHC. The target is insurance. It checks every box.”
Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania following a massive manhunt after Thompson’s murder. He has pleaded not guilty to federal and state charges for the alleged shooting. After Thomspon’s murder, police found the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” written on shell casings found at the scene.
Mangione, against whom the feds are seeking the death penalty, is due back in federal court on December 5. A trial date has yet to be set.