Luigi Mangione's arraignment took place hours after US television networks broadcast the 26-year-old's dramatic extradition by plane and helicopter from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at a McDonald's restaurant last week.
Thompson's murder brought to the surface deep public frustration with the dysfunction and ills of the lucrative US commercial health care system, with many social media users lionizing Mangione.
But James Dennehy of the FBI New York Field Office stressed that Magione’s alleged actions amounted to a “carefully premeditated and targeted execution.”
If convicted, Mangione could face the death penalty or life in prison, the US Department of Justice said.
The fresh federal charges expand the case against Ivy League graduate Mangione, coming two days after New York prosecutors filed separate state charges against him, including one count of murder in the second degree as “an act of terrorism.”
Mangioni's attorneys also said they are not asking the court to release him on bail, at least for now, according to CNN.
Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, Mangione left the Pennsylvania courthouse in a black SUV, escorted by police vehicles.
New York Mayor Eric Adams was among the officials escorting Mangione.
Health debate
Mangione traveled to New York by bus from Atlanta about 10 days before the crime, the Department of Justice said. After checking into a Manhattan hostel with false identification, he allegedly performed reconnaissance near the victim's hotel and the conference venue where the shooting took place.
Thompson’s killing was “a grossly misguided attempt to broadcast Mangione’s views across the country,“ Acting US Attorney Edward Kim for the Southern District of New York said.
Police say a “life-changing, life-altering” back injury may have motivated Mangione, although there was “no indication” he was ever a client of UnitedHealthcare.
Reports that the casings of the bullets fired at Thompson had “depose, deny, delay” inscribed on them prompted horror stories on social media about health insurers who allegedly used those very tactics to get out of paying for needed medical care.
According to the federal charges released Thursday, a notebook found on Mangione had an entry from August saying “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box.”
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