Mangione Episode 2: "B.T."

Hi, this is Brian Buckmeyer, here with another weekly episode of my new podcast from ABC Audio and 2020, Burden of Proof, Luigi Mangione. Remember, you can also listen ad-free by subscribing to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts. Click the link in the description to learn more. Now, here's the next episode of Burden of Proof, Luigi Mangione. How do you want to split it? Actually, dinner's on me. Okay, big money. Well, I got a Venmo balance that I can spend with my Venmo debit mastercard, so. Well, I Venmo'd you three times last week, so it's kind of on me, actually. Yeah, you send it, I spend it. Did my money get, like, reincarnated? Yeah, it's chicken shawarma. Want it back? I can't believe you, like, ate my Venmo. Spend your balance instantly with the Venmo debit card. No monthly fee or minimum balance. Venmo balance account required to get a card and use a balance. A Venmo mastercard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. It's December 10th, 2024. The country wakes up to major news in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. We're going to turn now to breaking news in the fast-moving investigation into the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson. The day before, Luigi Mangione was detained in Pennsylvania on charges of weapon possession and forgery. Overnight, New York filed its own charges. The 26-year-old was charged with murder. Murder and other charges, including criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a weapon. The UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty to all state charges. Mangione was also eventually charged by federal prosecutors and faced stalking charges in that case. He initially pleaded not guilty, but, as you may have heard, on Friday, he pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking in connection with the killing of Brian Thompson and admitted to shooting him. After that plea, Mangione's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss his state charges, but, as of Friday after noon, Mangione's state murder trial is still scheduled to begin in September. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the federal case this December. We'll get into any developments on all that in later episodes. But for now, we're going to keep following this story as it unfolded. So, back to December 10th, 2024, when people were first learning about this case, when Mangione was first charged by the state of New York. With this new set of charges, Mangione is formally accused of killing Brian Thompson. He's no longer a person of interest. He's suspect number one. And now, New York authorities want their suspect back, ASAP. So, that afternoon, Mangione has an extradition hearing. It's the beginning of the process to transfer him to New York's custody so he can be tried there. A swarm of press has made it to Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania, and waits outside the Blair County Courthouse. It's a massive Gothic-style building with beautiful stonework and sculptures, and a five-story clock tower that stands tall over neighboring buildings. In a narrow alley on the less ornate backside of the courthouse, dozens of camera crews stand waiting. A white Ford Explorer with Sheriff on the side pulls up. Into a kind of back entrance Sallyport area. ABC's chief investigative correspondent, Aaron Katursky, was there. The press, already standing only a couple feet away from the police car, inches forward. Police officers crowd near the cruiser's back door as Luigi Mangione, shackled at the ankles and wrists, steps out. He's being brought into the Blair County Courthouse. He's in custody. He's in an orange jumpsuit, surrounded by correction officers, escorting him into court. And he sees all of the photographers and reporters who are gathered there to take pictures of this. And he screams out. Out of touch. And it's an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience. An insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience. And at that point, the officers kind of grab him a little more roughly and sort of shove him into the door. With that, America hears from Luigi Mangione for the first time. During the hearing, Mangione's lawyer, Thomas Dickey, asks for bail, which was denied, and signals Mangione will fight the extradition to New York City. He tells the press afterwards that Mangione plans to plead not guilty. For law enforcement, the manhunt is over. The multi-state, multi-agency effort to capture a suspect has been successful, and officials are celebrating. New York City's mayor at the time, Eric Adams, facetimes one of the Altoona arresting officers. The video was posted to the New York City mayor's ex-account. You can hear the triumph in their voices. Hey, Tyler. I can't say I was expecting to wake it up this morning, but that was a great experience. Well, you're going to be the most popular police officer in your town. There are press conferences, news appearances, lots of back-slapping up and down the Northeast. While there's all this attention on Pennsylvania, back in Bryant-Thompson, New York, there's not much to be said about what happened in Bryant-Thompson's Minnesota home. Things are quieter. In lieu of a press conference, there's just a piece of paper taped to the Thompson front door. In part, it reads, "Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives." According to local police, and later the Department of Justice, threats have been directed towards his wife and children. One threat claimed, according to authorities, that Bryant-Thompson's family was killed because he was profiting off the backs of poor Americans, and that his family should suffer. At one point, police blockades went up around their neighborhood. Bryant-Thompson's family, including his widow and mother, attended the hearing on Friday and sat in the front as Mangione pleaded guilty in federal court. Afterwards, the family put out a statement. "Today's guilty plea marks an unprecedented moment in my life. It's a moment that I've never seen before," Bryant-Thompson said. "This plea marks an important step towards justice for Bryant and for our family. While nothing will ease the pain of losing him, we are grateful that the federal justice system has held the person responsible for this heinous act accountable. We will continue to seek the justice Bryant deserves." The day Mangione was arrested, back in 2024, the Thompsons were quietly saying their final farewells. A local Lutheran church held the private funeral service. Even the church, became the target of ire. "Last Monday, we held the funeral for Bryant-Thompson, who is the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. Additionally, we've also received some anonymous messages from people expressing anger that we would hold a funeral like this." Here's a church leader speaking to the congregation in the days after Bryant's service. "We've acknowledged very publicly that the healthcare system needs reform and change. At the same time, acts of violence, violence against anyone in that system or not, are a violation of God's intention for humanity. God's justice is always restorative, never retributive. Death does not get the last word." As New York works to get their suspect back, the world fixates on trying to learn everything about Luigi Mangione. Less attention is paid to Bryant-Thompson, less information is said about him. Who was Bryant-Thompson? From ABC Audio in 2020, I'm Brian Buckmeyer, an attorney and ABC News legal analyst. And this is Burden of Proof: Luigi Mangione. Episode 2: BT. We have reached out to many people, who knew Bryant-Thompson. Family, friends, co-workers, former classmates, former teachers, even the mayor of his hometown. The vast majority of these people did not return our request for comment or declined to speak with us for this series. Bryant had a public-facing role, but wasn't a household name or a talking head. Not the kind of business leader who was often on TV or profiled in glossy magazines. You can hear him in United Healthcare's earnings calls, bunned up and prepared for questions about profit margins and growth forecasts. Here he is during a call in October 2023. I think the key point is all of our businesses in United Healthcare right now are really demonstrating innovation and market success at the same time. In a video posted by the Des Moines Register after Bryant's death, you can hear Bryant giving a presentation in 2022 about how United Healthcare is using data to, quote, "develop innovative customer solutions." The key to enabling a better consumer experience is to bring together all of the disparate single-point solutions and deliver a holistic, simpler experience in a way that ultimately improves people's health. Two days after Bryant was killed, United Health Group, the parent company of United Healthcare, held a fireside chat for employees. Video of it was leaked to an independent journalist and posted on social media. In the leaked video, the United Health Group CEO at the time, Andrew Whitty, Bryant Thompson's brother, said, "I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you." boss, spoke a bit about Brian's personality. Some of Brian's colleagues told the Wall Street Journal that they remembered him chewing gum and cursing regularly. A casual, laid-back demeanor to match his humble, Midwestern roots. In the fireside chat, Witty also talked about Brian's legacy. A week after Brian's death, Witty also wrote an op-ed for the New York Times. It included a peek into Brian's early life, long before he was CEO. Quote, he was raised in the same Iowa farmhouse as his mom. His dad, spent more than 40 years unloading trucks at grain elevators. B.T., as we knew him, worked farm jobs as a kid and fished at a gravel pit with his brother. Brian was born and raised near Jewel, Iowa, a town that even now has just around a thousand people. His mom was a beautician and his dad, according to his obituary, worked at a grain storage facility. The obituary also noted that Brian's parents, were high school sweethearts. Brian went to the same high school as his parents. During high school, he is one of Iowa's winners in a national essay contest and got a free trip to Washington, D.C. His teacher told the New York Times, Brian was nervous because it was his first time flying in an airplane. The essay contest was covered by the local paper, the South Hamilton Record News. It asked students to reflect on how the United States should avoid or resolve international conflict. The paper also ran Brian's full essay. He wrote, We can't put our world in jeopardy ever again by looking only inward without looking outward. Brian's high school class had just 50 students and he graduated as valedictorian in 1993. People who knew him say he was an exceptionally bright student. If you look at his senior spotlight in the South Hamilton Record News, you'll see a black and white photo of Brian. He's wearing his class ring. His light brown hair is neatly parted and his posture is perfectly straight. Following graduation, Brian plans to attend the University of Iowa and major in pre-law. This is Steve Parenti, an economist at the University of Minnesota. He crossed paths with Brian Thompson decades after his senior spotlight was published. We asked him to read the piece about Brian. Throughout his high school career, Brian has been in a number of activities. The sports he has participated in include basketball, baseball, and golf. He has also been a member of swing choir, jazz band, and concert band. In addition, Brian has participated in Hamilton Holidays and the Fall Play. Brian has been an Allstate trombonist for the past three years. Also, Brian was recently named a State of Iowa Scholar. Brian is currently the president of the National Honor Society and president of the senior class. Wow. One of the most memorable moments was being elected to be the 1992 homecoming king. He has really enjoyed his years at South Hamilton, and he feels very fortunate to have spent the past 12 years with so many great classmates and teachers. Wow. By the time Steve met Brian in 2020, Brian had graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in accounting, gotten married, become a father to two sons, and risen through the ranks of United Health Group for about 16 years, almost his entire career. Brian's life was not perfect. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to driving while impaired and was sentenced to two days in jail. He paid a fine and was required to complete a one-day DWI program. When Brian was killed, he was living in a million-dollar home in a Minneapolis suburb. For years, he had been living separately from his wife and children, according to neighbors. But Brian had, in many ways, lived out the American dream. He started on an Iowa farm with working-class parents, excelled academically and professionally, and ended up in a position of immense power and wealth. I mean, I'd say that we were really very vital colleagues to each other, and we probably would have been really good friends. Steve says he met Brian in 2020, about a year before he became CEO, when he was an executive in charge, of UnitedHealthcare's government programs. At that time, Steve Parenti was part of the first Trump administration's Council of Economic Advisors, and he was consulting with the Department of Health and Human Services. During the COVID pandemic, Congress passed billions of dollars in relief for hospitals and physicians. Allocating that money was one thing. Getting it to where it could be used and used well was another thing. Steve says he was asked to help figure out how that money should be used. That's when I met Brian Thompson. He was a really good friend of the Chief of Staff for the Deputy Secretary of HHS. UnitedHealth Group confirmed to ABC News that Brian played a leadership role in helping distribute the emergency funding. According to Parenti, Brian said he had an idea for distributing the money. They could use an arm of UnitedHealth Group, Optum Bank. Optum Bank has health savings accounts, but also works like a real bank, with routing numbers and the ability to do wire transfers. We'll get your proposal by tomorrow morning 8 a.m. That PowerPoint was the most beautiful thing you ever saw because for once you felt after weeks of trying to make a plan work that this was going to happen and it was going to happen pretty well. UnitedHealthcare was contracted by the government for a million dollars to distribute the funds. For the next three months, Steve says he talked to Brian nearly every day as they hashed out a plan. Hopping on the phone, exhausted at 7 a.m. I like this whole experience to probably the closest an economist is going to have to working in a wartime situation because the intensity of what you are doing is effectively a 20-hour day and you are working with a whole variety of unknowns that you really have not anticipated and you're working with people that you've never met before. Through it all, Steve remembers Brian having a calming, can-do attitude. It's kind of like when you're flying and there's a lot of turbulence and suddenly the pilot comes on and maybe it's just the voice or just the way there's no tension there. You actually feel like this is going to work out okay. The thing that was crazy, it was easy going but he was enormously confident. It was sort of like this it was sort of the best of what you sort of think of like the ultimate Midwesterner. Optum Bank was used to give billions of dollars to hospitals across the country. And after that, Steve says his and Brian's work together was over. We never met before personally and we never met after. I wish I knew him better in person. I wish we had a drink. I wish we could have talked about a lot of stuff. Steve says he's really proud of the work he and Brian did together. He considers it a career highlight. But critics raised questions about UnitedHealthcare's involvement in this. Why was a private insurer getting paid to distribute public funds? Steve had ties to UnitedHealthcare through his research at the University of Minnesota and his own private consulting. Did that have something to do with why UnitedHealthcare was brought in? Steve says it did not. Sometimes there's a perception of pay for play, but that's really not the case. As for Brian Thompson, after his work with Steve, he kept rising at UnitedHealthcare. About a year later, he became CEO. Steve says that was a huge accomplishment. Selling that much at such an intense place. If you're not performing, you will not survive. There are folks that I've known at United that are very ambitious, and it's obvious that they're ambitious. Sometimes they don't last very long. There are others that are very confident and quiet, like Brian was, and they rise to the top. Brian Thompson, the calm, easy-going, gum-chewing Midwesterner, had reached the pinnacle of corporate success. But the peak he had gotten to? CEO of a huge health insurance company? Eventually, at the time when Brian was killed, some supporters of Luigi Mangione felt that made him a villain. A stand-in for the worst parts of American healthcare. This show is supported by Chime. Let's be honest, no one likes paying bank fees. For a long time, they felt inevitable because every bank charged them. But now, there are other options. Now, there's Chime. Chime is changing the way people bank by eliminating fees. That's right, no monthly fees, no minimum balance fees, and no overdraft fees. Instead of fees, you get rewards. You get 5% cash back on ChimeCard in a category of your choice, like gas or groceries, all while building credit through regular, everyday spending with no credit check. You can also grow your money faster with a savings rate that's 9 times the national average. And if you're ever in a pinch, SpotMe lets you overdraft up to $200 fee-free. Join the millions who are already banking, free with America's number one choice for banking. to Chime.com slash Burden of Proof. Sign up now. It only takes a few minutes. That's Chime.com slash Burden of Proof. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services and Chime card provided by Chime's bank partners. Qualifying direct deposits required. Terms and limits apply. Go to Chime.com slash disclosures for details. Okay, big money. Want it back? This is the way. Hi, I'm Jon Favreau. We are launching the all-new Star Wars, the Amanda Lauren and Grogu official podcast. I'm sorry, I can't focus at the moment. We're going behind the scenes with the crew, sharing stories from the set, creative insights, and a few surprises from across the galaxy. I think he's earned a little snack. Watch and listen to Star Wars, the Mandalorian and Grogu official podcast, premiering September 2nd on Disney Plus or wherever you get your podcasts. And catch Star Wars, the Mandalorian and Grogu on September 2nd on Disney Plus. Terms apply. which included several dated entries and a letter addressed to the feds. Prosecutors alleged this was all written by Luigi Mangione. According to the federal indictment, the writings in the notebook, quote, expressed hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular. Prosecutors released photos of what they say are the writings. The handwriting in the letter to the feds is precise and orderly. The writer even numbered the pages and included instructions for flipping the page over. Back, in parentheses, with an arrow. In the letter, the writer criticizes the state of American healthcare and compares health insurance companies to the mafia. These mafiosos have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit. The writer mentions United Health Group specifically, saying that it's one of the largest companies in the US. So it's this massive, massive conglomerate and touches everybody in so many different ways. This is Wendell Potter. I am a former health insurance company executive. I was vice president of corporate communications at Cigna for several years, and that was my title when I resigned in 2008. He resigned after managing what he says was a major PR crisis. A teenager in California needed a liver transplant, but Cigna had denied coverage for it. It became a big story in the local media, and Cigna decided to reverse the decision. But it was too late. Five hours after Cigna said it would cover her transplant, she passed away. I was really struggling to be a spokesman for the company, defending the company's decisions, and I turned in my notice. Cigna said in an email that, quote, "The world, healthcare, and our company have each evolved significantly since Mr. Potter worked here nearly two decades ago. We are continually working to improve support for patients and their care, and we remain committed to helping build a more sustainable healthcare model for America." Wendell spent 20 years working for health insurance companies. Today, he is a critic of the industry and writes a newsletter covering it. UnitedHealth Group comes up a lot. Wendell says the company's sheer size puts it in the spotlight. It makes up 15% of the entire U.S. health insurance market. It has by far the most people enrolled in its health plans than any other insurer. So that's another reason. It's just so big. But it has grown as big as it is over the course of several years through just one acquisition after another. It has gobbled up a lot of other health insurance companies. In more recent years, it has ventured into and made more and more acquisitions in the healthcare delivery side. It owns hundreds of physician practices and clinics across the country. It has home health operations, even hospice operations. It has an enormous pharmacy benefit manager called OptumRx. In their statement to ABC News, UnitedHealth Group said, "The U.S. health system remains deeply fragmented and too often leaves people to navigate disconnected benefits, care delivery, pharmacy, and administrative processes on their own. UnitedHealth Group's capabilities are designed to help make the system work better." Like other major health insurance companies, UnitedHealth Group has faced scrutiny over the last few years. There is an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into alleged Medicare fraud, which UnitedHealth has said they are complying and, quote, "couldn't have done this." The UnitedHealth Group has said they are complying and, quote, "couldn't have done this." United also told ABC News that independent audits confirm that the company's Medicare practices are among the most accurate in the industry. There is also a lawsuit alleging insider trading by executives, including by Brian Thompson, while he was UnitedHealth Care's CEO. United has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and said in a statement that, quote, "the company denies any allegations of wrongdoing and intends to defend the matter vigorously." The UnitedHealth Group has also filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and said in a statement that, quote, "the company denies any allegations of wrongdoing and intends to defend the matter vigorously." The UnitedHealth Group has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and said in a statement that, quote, "the company denies any allegations of wrongdoing and intends to defend the matter vigorously." And there's an ongoing class action lawsuit alleging that UnitedHealth Group used AI to wrongfully deny care to patients. UnitedHealth Group said, quote, "the company denies any allegations of wrongdoing and that medical necessity determinations are made by qualified physicians, not AI." Claim denials appear to be at the heart of a lot of the public criticism of UnitedHealth Care. After the shooting, UnitedHealth Group put out a statement saying it pays 90 percent of claims upon submission. Wendell Potter says the other 10 percent, the claims that are sent for further review or denied, they can make a big difference to customers. That 10 percent is very, very significant. We asked UnitedHealth Group to characterize the 10 percent of claims that are sent for further review or denied. They said one half of one percent are due to medical reasons, about half are because of administrative errors, and the remaining majority are because of factors like someone not having insurance coverage or duplicate claims submissions. They said when a claim is sent for further review because of an administrative error, they work to resolve it with a care provider. The summer before the shooting, people protested outside the UnitedHealth Care headquarters in Minnesota over claims denials. Activists targeted UnitedHealth Care in Minnesota with at least two protests, staging a sit-in, even carrying a mock coffin. Protesters accusing the company of greed and pointing out Brian Thompson's $10 million compensation package. That $10 million compensation package was a combination of salary and stock options, and it made Brian one of the highest paid executives in all of UnitedHealth Group. In 2023, the last full year he was CEO, UnitedHealth Care brought in $281 billion of revenue. In response to the protests and the claims made during them, UnitedHealth Group said, quote, "We understand people's frustration with the health care system and take those concerns seriously." The spring after Brian's death, UnitedHealth Group lowered its financial outlook for the year, and that May, Brian's boss, Andrew Witte, resigned. Wendell didn't know Brian personally, but I would listen to their earnings reports on a regular basis so I would hear his voice. Wendell says he talked to people who did know Brian, and they told him Brian was a nice guy who cared about patients. But Wendell says, as a CEO of a major corporation, Brian's duties would have been to his shareholders. Every employee of one of these big corporations, you have an understanding. You have to do your part to make sure that the company meets Wall Street's profit expectations every three months. When Brian walked over to the Hilton for the investors' conference, he had been CEO for just a few years. He was bringing in big profits for UnitedHealthcare and overseeing 140,000 employees. Around 50 million Americans were getting insurance through the company he ran, but most of them had no idea who he was. Until he became a part of the biggest news story in the country. Okay, big money. Well, I Venmoed you three times last week, so it's kind of on me, actually. Yeah, it was chicken shawarma. Want it back? The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. There's a headline every 30 minutes for our show, I'm pretty sure. Welcome to Get Real. I'm your host, Amanda Hirsch. This is the show for the reality TV obsessed. You thought the show was crazy? Living it was crazier. I was dripping sweat before I even started. the stars and fans of the hula reality verse do we think she's stirring the pot to secure a place on the show find and listen to get real wherever you get your podcasts and stream new episodes thursdays on hulu and hulu on disney plus terms apply in a sunny californian suburb one family's home is unusually quiet when detectives walked into that house they said that it was like time just stood still it's 2010 and the mcstay family is nowhere to be found inside the home no clear answer where the family could have gone husband wife and two children all gone like poof disappeared the search for the mcstays quickly captures the nation but for years the search for answers only brings more questions who's ever heard of an entire family going missing a family of four doesn't just drop off the face of the earth is this a family on the run or is the truth far more sinister from abc audio in 2020 this is what happened to the mcstays follow what happened to the mcstays for weekly episodes wherever you get your podcasts or if you can't wait the entire series is streaming now ad free for subscribers to 2020 true crime plus find 2020 true crime plus on apple podcast to start your free trial today after brian thompson's murder vitriol against health care companies was at a fever pitch a working hard to make sure they felt safe in the face of all of this he also told them to tune out the critical noise about their employer it does not reflect reality it is simply a sign of an era in which we live as all of this continued to unfold steve parenti wrote an article about his one-time colleague brian thompson for the minnesota star tribune a lot of folks reached out to him