New York man pleads guilty to cyberstalking in threats to relative of the late UnitedHealthcare CEO

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York man admitted to leaving harassing and threatening voicemail messages to a family member of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as he pleaded guilty to cyberstalking in federal court Thursday.

Shane Daley, 40, was accused by federal prosecutors in August of placing multiple calls to a Thompson family member immediately after the December 2024 shooting and expressing glee about the insurance executive’s killing.

Thompson was fatally shot outside a New York City hotel by a man angered over what he viewed as corporate greed, according to prosecutors. The suspect, Luigi Mangione, has pleaded not guilty and faces trials in state and federal court.

As part of his guilty plea, Daley admitted to placing multiple calls to a work line used by a member of Thompson’s family in the days after he was killed and leaving messages with threatening and harassing language. He expressed satisfaction over the killing and said the family member and Thompson’s children deserved to meet the same violent end, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of New York.

“Shane Daley 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, a resident of Galway, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Albany, will be sentenced July 17. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S., and his killing prompted an outpouring of public frustration with the country’s health care system. Some people have lionized Mangione as a sort of vigilante hero.