Mangione Expected to Plead Guilty & LA Lakers Record-Breaking Sale

0:00When you're running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, risk can affect multiple parts of the organization at once, from property and liability to cyber and regulatory challenges. At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. And when losses do happen, that work is paired with insurance coverage shaped by years of underwriting, risk engineering, and claims experience. Learn more at thehartford.com slash risk mitigation.

0:34Policies provided by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates, Hartford, Connecticut. As industries evolve faster than ever, companies need an environment that accelerates strategic growth, and Michigan delivers on that promise. From emerging startups to global enterprises, Michigan offers what executives value most, a resilient, innovative ecosystem, Diverse communities that attract top talent and a quality of life that supports work-life balance. With our unified Team Michigan approach, businesses scale faster and compete at the highest level. Michigan, pure opportunity.

1:07Seize your opportunity at michiganbusiness.org. Today's episode is brought to you by ChatGPT for Business. As a listener of this podcast, you're looking for ways to help teams move faster, make sharper decisions, and turn scattered context into work they can use. ChatGPT for Business can help. ChatGPT for Business gives teams a shared workspace with admin controls, permissions, and access to work and codecs in ChatGPT. This means your business can move from question to answer and code to rollout quicker. Join over 10 million business and enterprise users worldwide already using ChatGPT for Work.

1:44Download the ChatGPT desktop app or contact sales to learn more. This is Bloomberg Law with June Grosso from Bloomberg Radio. Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to resolve federal charges related to the fatal shooting of United Health Group executive Brian Thompson. And prosecutors will recommend he serve life in prison, according to Bloomberg sources. Mangione faces two federal counts of stalking resulting in death that carry a potential for life in prison without parole. It wasn't clear what charge or charges Mangione is expected to plead guilty to, and it's possible that a deal could still fall apart.

2:34The 28-year-old has been charged in both federal and state court in New York, and his state murder trial is set to begin September 8th. The state charges also carry the possibility of a life sentence. Joining me is Bloomberg legal reporter David Voriakis. David, tell us what you know about this plea deal. Luigi Mangione has a hearing scheduled for Friday morning in federal court in Manhattan. The nature of that hearing has not been publicly revealed, but there's a possibility that he could plead guilty in his federal case related to the shooting of Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan. He is charged federally with two counts of stalking to cause the death of Thompson after the judge in that case dismissed a murder charge against him.

3:30He separately faces New York state charges of second-degree murder and other crimes. So these are all arising from the events surrounding the fatal shooting of Thompson before Mangione fled, was a fugitive for five days, and was arrested later in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The theory is that if he pleads guilty to the federal crime, then he'll turn around and argue in state court that double jeopardy applies. Right. It's unclear how that's going to play out. But his lawyers have said from the beginning that because he faces two different prosecutions for the same events, that that amounts to double jeopardy.

4:23Double jeopardy is not allowed through the U.S. Constitution and also through a New York state law. The analysis of whether this is double jeopardy or not is a bit complex, and it has to do with the elements of each crime, in this case stalking and murder. it's possible that the judge in the New York State case may conclude that there are separate elements to this crime, even though it's essentially the same event, and that double jeopardy does not apply. This strikes me as a huge gamble. He'd be agreeing to serve time in federal prison, probably a long time in federal prison, on the chance that a state judge will rule that this is double jeopardy.

5:15It seems really risky. It does seem like a gamble. He has very good lawyers. They've done the legal analysis. It also may be his only real option if he doesn't want to go to trial. If he pleads guilty in federal court, he'll have to admit what he did in open court. And prosecutors in the New York State case can use that against him, assuming he goes to trial in the state case. The two stalking charges, if he's pleading guilty to two stalking charges, that could carry life in prison, which is the top that he would get in state court anyway. That's correct. I mean, that's what he's currently facing in the federal case.

5:56It's unclear whether that's what he would actually plead guilty to. Typically, in a plea deal, Both sides give up something, so it's possible that he could plead to a reduced charge or maybe only one of the stalking charges. It's not entirely clear what the prosecutors are willing to give here, since the general consensus is the evidence against Mangione is quite powerful. This case outraged the public. It's gotten a lot of national attention. Originally, the former Attorney General Pam Bondi sought the death penalty against Mangione. But the judge in this case dismissed the count that could have potentially led to the death penalty had he been convicted on that.

6:43Describe some of the evidence here that a lot of people find overwhelming. As people have probably seen, there's a lot of video evidence of Mangione on the morning of the shooting. He's been captured on videotape bicycling through New York City in a taxi cab when he was checking into a hostel in the Upper West Side a few days before the shooting. That's evidence that was used in the manhunt that led to his arrest. The police in Pennsylvania also seized his backpack at the time of his arrest, which included a homemade gun, a silencer, a gun magazine, and a variety of writings by Mangione that express extreme animus toward the health care system and a desire to shoot a health care CEO.

7:47I mean, that's just in brief. There's a lot more than that. But those are sort of the highlights. And a lot of legal experts believe it's quite a powerful case that the prosecutors have assembled, which leaves Mangione in a difficult position to try to deny that he's the perpetrator. traitor. There was a hearing where Mangione's lawyers said that he was going to use some kind of emotional distress defense and then withdrew it. They had initially filed court papers saying that they were going to file an emotional disturbance defense. That had been under seal for several months. A day after it was unsealed, the defense said they would no longer use that.

8:35as we understand it, the traditional use of that defense would require a psychological evaluation. And by withdrawing that, that is no longer required for the defense, but it is possible that he may use a variation of that defense should he go to trial in state court. He's become a folk hero to some people. He's got admirers who show up at trial. They They sent him things in the mail, very popular with a certain segment. Are people anticipating that jury selection in the state case would take a long time because of the prosecution trying to filter out those people? I think it probably is going to take a long time.

9:24Ultimately, the judge is looking for people who can be fair and unbiased and have an open mind. The prosecutors don't want people who may be secretly rooting for the sort of political arguments that Luigi Mangione has made about the health care system. They want people that can judge the case based on the evidence and not his political beliefs. There's a huge amount of interest in this case. And the judge is trying to deal with the press in the case and overflow rooms. Tell us about the interest in the case. There was some question in the state case about whether there would be an overflow room that would allow as many press as possible or whether there would be a fixed number of media organizations that could observe the proceedings.

10:20Earlier this week, Judge Carroll ruled that there would be an overflow room and that this was all sort of overblown and he never intended to limit the press. He said that there were 86 news organizations that are trying to cover the case. So there is a tremendous amount of interest in how this is all going to play out. I would also say that Mangione's followers, known as Mangionistas, consistently show up at the pretrial hearings. There's, I don't know, 30 or 40 or 50 that show up at any given hearing. He also has said in court filings that he has thousands of supporters who have sent him letters or some types of communications.

11:08He's raised about a million and a half dollars toward his legal defense. So there's clearly a groundswell of support for Mangione, either for him personally or what his actions represent in protest of the health care system in the U.S. And did the defense at one point float having the proceedings televised? The defense did raise that possibility of having at least some of the proceedings televised. Judge Caro has not answered that. It appears that that's very unlikely if, in fact, we go to a trial in state court. We'll see what happens in court tomorrow. Thanks so much, David. That's Bloomberg Legal Reporter David Voriakis.

11:55The thing about AI for business, it may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across HR, IT, and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions slash repetitive tasks and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business. IBM. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Shave ice by the beach. A trip to the state fair. And a throwback flick at the local drive-in. They're more than just items to check off the summer bucket list.

12:36They're also opportunities to earn 2 % daily cash back when you use your Apple Card with Apple Pay. Apply for Apple Card now and use in minutes with Apple Pay. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City branch. Terms and more at AppleCard.com. Let's talk about health care for a second. It doesn't always work the way people expect it to. If you've ever waited on a prescription refill or had a hard time getting the care you needed, you know the feeling. The system should just work better for everyone. That's exactly what the people at Optum are trying to do every day.

13:08They're a healthcare company linking patient care and pharmacy services and using data and technology to drive the whole system so care is connected, not complicated, for patients and providers. Things like making it easier to get care that looks at the whole person, from primary care doctors to mental health support and even in-home care, and then using technology to make sure they all work together. technology designed to help doctors spend less time on busy work and more time with their patients. And those prescriptions? Optum is working to bring costs down, save patients money, and make it easier to get refills.

13:42Little by little, Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Head to business.optum.com to see how. Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are buying the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team from billionaire Mark Walter for a record-breaking price of$12.5 billion, according to Bloomberg sources. It's the highest price ever for a professional sports franchise, exceeding the$9.6 billion paid for the National Football League Seattle Seahawks in July. The move comes as Walter's sprawling investment empire is facing scrutiny from federal prosecutors. Federal agents seized Walter's mobile phone and computer last September as part of a wide-ranging investigation.

14:33Walter's firm, TWG Global, has approached multiple investment firms about deals to raise cash to help pay down loans on the books of its insurers that had drawn scrutiny from the Justice Department. That's according to people familiar with the matter. Joining me is former federal prosecutor Marissa Darden, head of the White Collar Government Investigations and Regulatory Practice Group at Benesh Law. Marissa, this huge deal came together over a weekend. Reportedly, Kushner called Walter on Friday, and the two sides hashed out an agreement by Sunday without using investment banks. What does that tell you?

15:14The fact that the Walters group didn't use investment bankers and also didn't get competing bids suggests that he and or his businesses are dire for cash. And if I had been advising him as a white collar professional, I might have advised that he needed to get liquid in a quick order. As you and Bloomberg has previously reported, Walters has been under the Department of Justice's investigation for insurance related issues and other fraudulent financial transactions since 2025. And that may be a signal that things are coming to a head there or that he's sort of in a desperate need for capital. The federal prosecutors have been examining loans.

16:00There's nothing wrong with insurers making loans to related parties, but it has to be disclosed. Just explain what they seem to be looking at. Best I can tell is, again, without knowing all the intricacies and not really having a full grasp of all the holdings, my understanding is that TWG Global is a holding company that they own stakes in Guggenheim, which is his asset management broker-dealer business, as well as various other insurance companies. And as you mentioned, there's no issue in and of itself with insurance companies or insurance brokers making loans or taking loans or working in that business and in that industry.

16:41But there are specific federal guidelines that insurers are supposed to live by to report these, to document them clearly so that shareholders and other investors are aware of the holdings. And I know, or at least it's been reported, that as recently as 2025 and early 2026, both of those insurance companies that are owned by TWG Global have had to restate billions and billions of dollars in loans that the insurance companies had made and had not properly classified. So I think there's some questions there about whether the Department of Justice, the SEC and other regulators are going to be looking to see if there was any fraudulent responsibility there or if there was any indication that they were trying to defraud investors and insurance premium holders about where these loans came from or what they were doing or if they were making a profit.

17:38So as a white collar defense lawyer, what would your advice be? So once the Department of Justice and the SEC sort of have their tentacles into a business, the investigation can always take interesting turns. And, you know, the statute of limitations on mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, it varies, but more or less is like somewhere around seven years, plus or minus, give or take, based on the statute. And so the Department of Justice takes its time, right? And looking at financial records, issuing subpoenas, looking at bank records and investigating a large international conglomerate such as the Walters Holdings, you never know what direction they're going to take.

18:23So legal fees rack up quickly. The amount of money that it takes to respond to subpoenas and cooperate in an internal federal investigation is very expensive. And then when you ask about sort of paying off the loans, companies may go in, hire forensic accounting services under privilege, and try to determine whether there was any wrongdoing or irregularities in advance of the department issuing charges so that you could go to them proactively and say, hey, look, we've restated our books or we've looked at this and we believe that we've fixed or ameliorated the problem preemptively. But again, that takes a lot of money, that takes time, resources.

19:02And a lot of times those legal fees are not covered under insurance premiums, or you might not want to activate your own liability insurance for your business. And then as a result, you're paying that out of pocket. And if you're highly leveraged, like most billionaires are, and those assets or those investments have to be paid or the investors are demanding repayment or the market is skittish about an asset management firm or an insurance company being under federal indictment, they could call those loans at any time. Does any of this put the deal to buy the Lakers in jeopardy? It's possible.

19:39You know, there's always a couple of things that are tricky when you buy such a big franchise like this, number one, the NDA sort of has to bless it, right? And there are all kinds of clauses, sale clauses that are usually written into contracts like this or an asset purchase agreement that says, hey, if we uncover any financial mismanagement or wrongdoing, that may negate the deal. There are safe harbors that might be contemplated statutorily, both state and federal, so that if the purchaser were to determine that there've been some mismanagement of funds within the Lakers organization, that that could negate the deal.

20:17But as a general matter, I think if people feel like this is a legitimate offer, it's for$2 billion or plus or minus more than what he paid for it two years ago, and the NBA doesn't have an issue with it, and they otherwise meet the requirements of an owner, I don't see this being an impediment. When he bought the Lakers just over a year ago, the deal was valued at$10 billion, and that was the largest ever in the control sale of a sports franchise. Now it's a record price again for a U.S. sports franchise. Our investors really sort of hooked on the big-name franchises. Just this week, Apollo Global Management agreed to invest$2.6 billion in the Yankees.

21:06And then you have the English soccer team and talks to sell a stake to Jeff Bezos. Billionaires want sports franchises for a lot of different reasons. It's a really interesting question. And actually, the NFL, I think, is the last of the big leagues to authorize private equity and investment group ownership in teams. And I think for a long time, all of the major sports organizations were very skittish about this for the obvious reasons, right? How do you go about vetting those organizations? Are there opportunities for illicit transactions or other mismanagement that is different from an individual owner, an owner group?

21:47Historically, particularly in the NFL, less so in maybe the NBA, and more so in the MLB, your typical owner was like an individual. Like one guy who got rich on something else and invested their money in a franchise because they love the sport, because they were excited about the value proposition, but mostly because of their desire to be in the game and to live vicariously through the players in something that they really love. And over time, more and more investors and more and more sort of nouveau riche have learned that it's not just to be around the sport and the sort of sexiness of all that, but it's also this huge investment opportunity that can make a huge return because the NFL has exponentially grown over the last 25 years.

22:36The NBA is making record dollars and selling out record ticket numbers. And so I think it was sort of inevitable that billionaire asset classes and high profile investment groups and private equity management ownership groups were going to come and see the bottom line ROI potential of something that's so huge and that keeps its cachet year over year. I'm just amazed that this came together over a weekend. end. I'm just really curious to see what the response is from Kushner and Iger, who the potential purchasers of the Lakers are. These are obviously very savvy investors. People maybe know Bob Iger's at Disney and Josh Kushner has made a huge fortune on his own being part of the Kushner family, but also having his own fund, his own private equity shop that he has made investments and other sports teams.

23:32And the scrutiny on this, I think, is going to be very high. So it'll be very interesting to see how they respond to all the media attentions and how they can justify their valuation of the offer. Because if you don't have competing bids or a competitive option, what due diligence did they do to actually determine a fair market value of the Lakers in 2026? A lot of questions yet. Thanks so much, Marissa. That's Marissa Darden, head of the White Collar Government Investigations and regulatory practice group at Banish Law. And that's it for this edition of the Bloomberg Law Show. Remember, you can always get the latest legal news on our Bloomberg Law podcast.

24:09You can find them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and at www.bloomberg.com slash podcast slash law. And remember to tune into the Bloomberg Law Show every weeknight at 10 p.m. Wall Street time. I'm June Grosso, and you're listening to Bloomberg.

24:31Healthcare doesn't always work great. If you've ever waited on a refill or couldn't schedule an appointment, you get it. That's the kind of stuff Optum is changing. They're using data and technology to integrate patient care, pharmacy, and everything else. So healthcare is connected, not complicated. What's that look like? Cheaper prescriptions that are easier to get and care that looks at the whole person how you need it. Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Learn more at business.optum.com.

25:27Right on time. Explore more at 4imprint.com. 4imprint. 4certain. As industries evolve faster than ever, companies need an environment that accelerates strategic growth. And Michigan delivers on that promise. From emerging startups to global enterprises, Michigan offers what executives value most. A resilient, innovative ecosystem. Diverse communities that attract top talent. And a quality of life that supports work-life balance. With our unified Team Michigan approach, businesses scale faster and compete at the highest level. Michigan, pure opportunity. Seize your opportunity at michiganbusiness.org.