Man poses as FBI agent to try to free Luigi Mangione from jail, source says
Curtis Means | Via Reuters
A Minnesota man was arrested after allegedly showing up Wednesday night at a New York federal jail claiming to be an FBI agent and saying he had a court order from a judge to release an inmate, according to a new criminal complaint Thursday.That inmate is Luigi Mangione, according to a person in law enforcement, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Mangione is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a midtown Manhattan street in December 2024.
The Minnesota man, 36-year-old Mark Anderson of Mankato, when asked by Bureau of Prisons personnel at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for his credentials, produced a Minnesota driver’s license, prosecutors said. Mangione is being held at that jail without bail.
Anderson also allegedly said he had weapons in a bag he was carrying.
Inside the bag was a barbecue fork and a circular steel blade that resembled a pizza cutter, according to the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.
“Anderson also displayed and threw at the BOP officers numerous documents=,” an FBI agent who signed the complaint wrote.
“I have reviewed those papers and theyappear to be related to filing of claims against the United States Department of Justice,” the agent wrote.
A barbecue fork, driver's license and circular steel blade allegedly found in the possession of Mark Anderson of Mankato, Minnesota, when he was detained after allegedly posing as an FBI agent at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York on Jan. 28, 2026.
A barbecue fork, driver’s license and circular steel blade allegedly found in the possession of Mark Anderson of Mankato, Minnesota,when he was detained after allegedly posing as an FBI agent at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York on Jan. 28, 2026.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Anderson is being charged with impersonating an FBI agentand is scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn federal court, where he is charged in a complaint.
The complaint does not identify by name the inmate that Anderson allegedly hoped to free. But the person in law enforcement confirmed that it was the 27-year-old Mangione.
Anderson had traveled to New York City for a job opportunity that did not work out and had been working in a pizzeria, according to that person.
His arrest came hours after state prosecutors in Manhattan Supreme Court urged a judge there to set Mangione’s murder trial for July.
That is two months before jury selection is set to begin in the Manhattan federal court case where Mangione is also charged with multiple crimes related to killing Thompson, a Minnesota resident whose company is the largest private health insurer in the United States.
Prosecutors alleged that Mangione stalked and then fatally shot Thompson on the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, as the CEO was walking into a midtown Manhattan hotel for an investors’ event held by UnitedHealth Group, the parent of UnitedHealthcare.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the slaying.
He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Federal prosecutors are seeking to impose the death penalty on Mangione if he is convicted in their case. The judge in that case could rule this week on whether Mangione will face a possible death sentence.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/29/luigi-mangione-fbi-jail-murder-mark-anderson.html