Luigi Mangione, accused suspect of the killing ofthe CEO of UnitedHealthcare, has beefed up his bizarre defense strategy.
His team has now retained the same New York prison consultant as disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
According to a Fox News report, Mangione has retained Craig Rothfeld, a former finance professional who became a consultant to white collar defendants after doing a jail stint for investment and tax fraud, “has extensive first-hand knowledge of the NYC Department of Correction and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision,” according to the bio on his website.
In December 2015, he and two business partners were convicted of defrauding $11 million from 15 investors, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Rothfeld was also accused of falsifying business records. He received a sentence of 1.5 to 4.5 years in prison.
Rothfeld’s firm, Inside Outside Ltd, posted a link to a New York Post article about his hiring to its website.
Rothfield deferred comment to a spokesperson for Mangione, who also declined to comment on the hiring.
In addition to consulting defendants from indictment to sentencing, Inside Outside also works with their defense attorneys on certain court filings and with letters of support.
Mangione is accused of planning out a cross-country trip that included the Dec. 4 assassination-style shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson just outside the hotel where his company was supposed to hold an investor conference later that morning.
Thompson, from Minnesota, had traveled to New York City for the event.
Mangione then allegedly fled the city and led police on a five-day interstate manhunt, ending with his arrest in a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after workers and customers recognized him from a wanted poster.
Mangione faces multiple charges, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism at the state level and stalking murder in federal court.
He faces lesser charges of carrying a forged ID and criminal possession of a firearm in both New York and Pennsylvania.
He is being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.