It’s been over a year since the world stopped to stare at the sidewalk outside the New York Hilton Midtown. You remember the headlines. Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in a December morning ambush that felt more like a movie script than reality. But here we are in 2026, and the conversation hasn't stopped. It’s actually shifted from the crime scene to the courtroom.
People keep searching for "Brian Thompson to testify," which is a bit of a tragedy in itself because, obviously, he can’t. But his ghost—his decisions, his emails, and the corporate legacy he left behind—is absolutely on the stand right now.
The Search for the "Missing" Witness
Let’s get the facts straight. The current legal firestorm involves two massive fronts: the criminal trial of Luigi Mangione and a wave of shareholder lawsuits that are basically putting Thompson’s entire career under a microscope.
When you hear talk about Brian Thompson to testify, people are usually referring to the mountain of "testimony" being extracted from his past. We’re talking about internal UnitedHealthcare documents, deposition transcripts from before his death, and the paper trail of a man who ran the largest health insurer in America.
Honestly, the courtroom feels like a high-stakes archaeology dig.
The Backpack Hearing
Just this month—January 2026—a federal judge, Margaret Garnett, scheduled a pivotal hearing. It’s not about the shooting itself, but about a backpack. Specifically, the one Luigi Mangione had when he was caught at that McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
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Mangione’s lawyers are fighting to toss out the most damning evidence: the gun and that infamous notebook. They’re calling a police officer to testify about how that search went down. If the defense wins this, the prosecution's case gets a massive hole in it.
The defense is playing hardball. They’re claiming the search was illegal because there was no warrant yet. The prosecution? They’re saying it was an "inventory search" for safety. It sounds like a technicality, but in a death penalty case, these technicalities are everything.
What Shareholders Are Actually Screaming About
While the criminal case dominates the news, the business world is fixated on a different set of hearings. Shareholders are suing UnitedHealth Group (UHG), and they’re using Thompson’s own past words against the company.
Basically, the lawsuit alleges that Thompson and other execs knew a storm was coming. Specifically, a DOJ antitrust investigation. The claim is that Thompson sold roughly $15 million in stock after finding out about the probe but before it went public.
"He never forgot where he came from," Andrew Witty (UHG's CEO) said of Thompson.
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But investors are looking at the numbers, not the sentiment. They want to know if the "Brian Thompson to testify" moment would have happened in a SEC hearing if he were still alive. Since he isn't, they are subpoenaing every piece of correspondence he had regarding those stock sales.
The "Delay, Deny, Depose" Fallout
You’ve probably seen the phrase. It was written on the shell casings found at the scene. It’s become a rallying cry for people who hate the insurance industry, and it’s creating a nightmare for UHG in court.
New lawsuits have emerged in 2025 and 2026 claiming that UHG quietly changed its claims-processing strategy after the murder. The allegation? They were using aggressive AI and "anti-consumer" tactics to boost profits while Thompson was at the helm, then scrambled to look "more human" once the public turned on them.
- The AI Factor: Expert witnesses are testifying about "nH Predict," the algorithm allegedly used to cut off care for seniors.
- The Pivot: Shareholders argue that if the company changed its business model because of "bad PR" from the shooting, then the previous financial guidance was a lie.
It's messy. It's complicated. And it’s why the name Brian Thompson is still appearing on court dockets every single week.
The 2026 Legal Landscape
Where does this leave us? Luigi Mangione is facing a federal trial that could start in late 2026. The "death penalty" debate is the big cloud hanging over the New York courthouse.
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Meanwhile, the health insurance industry is under a level of scrutiny we haven't seen in decades. Every time a witness stands up to testify in any of these related cases, they are effectively testifying about the system Brian Thompson helped build.
Actionable Insights: What to Watch
If you're following this because you're interested in the legal or business fallout, keep an eye on these three things:
- The Evidence Suppression Ruling: If Judge Garnett tosses the backpack evidence, the federal case against Mangione might stall. This decision is expected by May 2026.
- The Insider Trading Discovery: Watch for the release of Thompson's internal emails. These will reveal what the leadership actually knew about the DOJ's antitrust moves.
- The "Medical Necessity" Legislation: There are several bills moving through Congress right now—sparked by the "delay, deny" headlines—that aim to limit how insurers use AI to reject claims.
The story of Brian Thompson didn't end on that sidewalk. It just moved into a room where everyone has to speak under oath.
Track the upcoming evidence suppression hearing in the Southern District of New York to see if the "notebook" evidence will be admissible in the federal trial scheduled for late 2026.