Federal prosecutors slam Mangione lawyers’ ‘meritless’ claims about Bondi’s lobbying ties

Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Washington, to brief top lawmakers after President Donald Trump directed U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors slammed Luigi Mangione’s lawyers on Wednesday for making what the government said were “meritless” and “misleading” claims about Attorney General Pam Bondi’s ties to a lobbying firm and her decision to seek the death penalty in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Deputy Manhattan U.S. Attorney Sean Buckley wrote in a court filing that Mangione’s lawyers wrongly claimed in a submission last month that Bondi, a former partner at Ballard Partners, was continuing to receive income through a profit-sharing arrangement with the firm, whose clients include UnitedHealthcare’s parent company UnitedHealth Group.

Bondi does have a 401(k) account through Ballard “reflecting past, fully earned compensation,” but the firm agreed to stop making contributions when she left, Buckley wrote.

“The defendant’s narrative collapses under the weight of his own assumptions, because a financial conflict theory requires a demonstrable financial benefit tethered to the litigation,” Buckley wrote. “Where no present or future financial gain exists, there is no conflict.”

Mangione’s lawyers argue that Bondi’s past lobbying work and her subsequent role leading the charge to turn his federal prosecution into a capital case, have created a “profound conflict of interest” that violated his due process rights. They want prosecutors barred from seeking the death penalty and some charges thrown out. A hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Buckley said Mangione’s lawyers also misconstrued Bondi’s pledge in a January 2025 letter that, as attorney general, she would follow ethical regulations and bow out of matters pertaining to Ballard clients for a year. In the letter, he said, Bondi made clear that she would not participate in “any matter in which Ballard Partners, or a client of Ballard Partners was a party.”

Bondi had no “ethical, statutory, or constitutional obligation to recuse herself” from Mangione’s criminal case because Ballard and the UnitedHealth Group companies are not parties to it, Buckley wrote. “Any collateral reputational or emotional interest those companies may have in the outcome does not transform them into parties or entities” requiring her to step aside.

Mangione’s legal team declined to comment.

Thompson, 50, was killed Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, 27, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. He has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison. Neither trial has been scheduled.

Bondi announced last April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, declaring even before Mangione was formally indicted that capital punishment was warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Mangione’s lawyers first raised Bondi’s connection to Ballard Partners in a Dec. 19 court filing, writing that the “very person” empowered to seek his death “has a financial stake in the case she is prosecuting.” Her conflict of interest “should have caused her to recuse herself from making any decisions on this case,” they added.

Mangione’s federal case is back in the forefront after a marathon pretrial hearing last month in his state case. He wants prosecutors barred from using certain evidence found during his arrest, such as a gun that police said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which he purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. A ruling isn’t expected until May.

Mangione’s defense team, led by husband-and-wife Karen Friedman-Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, are now trying to convince U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett to rule out capital punishment, pare down the case and exclude the same evidence they want suppressed from the state case.

In a September filing, Mangione’s lawyers argued that Bondi’s announcement that she was ordering prosecutors to seek the death penalty -- which she followed with Instagram posts and a TV appearance -- showed the decision was “based on politics, not merit.” They also said her remarks tainted the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment a few weeks later.

Bondi’s statements and other official actions -- including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and the Trump administration’s flouting of established death penalty procedures -- “have violated Mr. Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case,” his lawyers said.

Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press