The video was startling.
Hours after Luigi Mangione was arrested for his alleged role in killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a clip appeared on a YouTube page with the suspect’s name and image. Titled “The Truth,” it started with a countdown timer and the message: “If you see this, I’m already under arrest.”
Then, the word “Soon…” appeared on the bottom-right corner of the screen, followed by the date “Dec 11th.” The video ended with the message: “All is scheduled, be patient. Bye for now.”
The mysterious video has since been removed from YouTube. It was uploaded to a channel named PepMangione, which was also the username of Mangione’s Twitter account. The YouTube page contained public information about Mangione, including his age and alma mater.
In the aftermath of Mangione’s arrest, the video went viral. However, an investigation by The Intercept confirmed that the video was a hoax.
The video was premiered on YouTube on December 9, 2024, at 2:35 p.m. ET, shortly after Mangione was taken into custody at 9:15 a.m. ET. YouTube’s “premiere” feature allows users to schedule a video for future release. This raised the question of whether Mangione had set the video to publish at a later time, but further analysis disproved this theory.
The video file was uploaded to YouTube just minutes before it premiered, ruling out the possibility of Mangione scheduling its release. By examining video timestamps, it was clear that Mangione could not have uploaded the video himself while in custody.
Various methods can determine when a video was uploaded to YouTube, including querying the platform for the publication time and analyzing video metadata with tools like ExifTool and MediaInfo. The Intercept’s investigation revealed that the video was encoded and modified on December 9, 2024, at 2:33 p.m. ET, just minutes before its release.
Another suspicious aspect was the YouTube channel itself, which was created on January 20, 2024, long before Thompson’s killing. However, YouTube confirmed that channels can be renamed, explaining the discrepancy in the channel name.
Following Mangione’s arrest, several social media accounts with similar names to PepMangione appeared on platforms like BlueSky and Telegram, raising further questions about the validity of the online presence.
Research by Jeehan Mikdadi.
