An upstate New York man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to cyberstalking for allegedly leaving threatening and harassing voicemail messages for a family member of Brian Thompson, the late UnitedHealthcare CEO, prosecutors said.
The plea was entered in Albany, according to prosecutors, as Shane Daley, 40, admitted to placing multiple calls to a work line used by a member of Thompson’s family and leaving messages containing threatening and harassing language in the days after Thompson was fatally shot outside a New York City hotel in December 2024.
Federal prosecutors said the calls began immediately after the shooting and that Daley expressed satisfaction about the killing during the voicemail messages, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York.
Prosecutors said the motive for the December 2024 killing, according to their account, was tied to anger over what the shooter viewed as corporate greed, and they said the suspect, Luigi Mangione, has pleaded not guilty and faces trials in state and federal court.
As part of the guilty plea, Daley admitted that he “celebrated the cold-blooded murder of Brian Thompson and senselessly tried to maximize the Thompson family’s suffering,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone said in a prepared release.
Daley, described by prosecutors as a resident of Galway about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Albany, is scheduled to be sentenced July 17. Prosecutors said he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Thompson’s death prompted public anger about the U.S. health care system, and the case has unfolded amid online and public debate over the attack. Some people have lionized Mangione as a vigilante hero, prosecutors said in their case description, even as Mangione fights the charges.