Luigi Mangione: Cops Might Have Planted Critical Piece of Evidence

The Ivy League graduate arrested on suspicion of assassinating the CEO of UnitedHealthcare took issue with two of the prosecutor’s claims during his first court appearance on Monday night.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested earlier that day at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Penn., carrying a backpack with a black 3D-printed pistol, silencer, loaded Glock magazine and fake IDs, according to the criminal complaint. Prosecutors believe he gunned down Brian Thompson outside an investors meeting in New York City last week.

During his court appearance, a judge read the full complaint out loud to Mangione—who said it was his first time hearing it, CNN reported.

Prosecutors argued that Mangione was carrying about $10,000 in cash and that his bag was a Faraday bag that blocks cellphone signals—all proof that he was a sophisticated criminal who should be held without bail.

“‘I’d like to correct two things,’” Mangione said after the prosecutor finished speaking, according to CNN’s Danny Freeman, “‘I don’t know where any of that money came from—I’m not sure if it was planted. And also, that bag was waterproof, so I don’t know about criminal sophistication.’”

Prosecutors had said he was carrying about $8,000 in U.S. dollars and $2,000 in foreign currency, CNN reported. Mangione didn’t say anything about the gun or the silencer.

The judge ordered Mangione, who did not enter a plea, to be held without bail. Law enforcement took him to the State Correctional Institute in Huntingdon, Penn., for booking.

Local officials told CNN that the evidence they collected in Pennsylvania will be sent to New York, where Mangione will eventually stand trial.

Late Monday night, New York prosecutors charged Mangione with one count of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.