The video was shocking.
Following the arrest of Luigi Mangione for his alleged involvement in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a video surfaced on a YouTube page under the suspect’s name and image. Titled “The Truth,” it featured a countdown timer and a message stating, “If you see this, I’m already under arrest.”
Displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen was the word “Soon…” followed by a brief flash of 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 – the same username as Mangione’s Twitter account. The YouTube page contained publicly available information about Mangione, including his age and alma mater.
Amidst the media frenzy following Mangione’s arrest, the video went viral. However, a forensic analysis of the video by The Intercept confirmed that the clip was a hoax.
The video premiered on YouTube on December 9, 2024, at 2:35 p.m. ET, just hours after Mangione was taken into custody at 9:15 a.m. ET. YouTube’s “premiere” feature allows users to schedule a video to be broadcast at a specific time in advance. This raised the possibility that Mangione had scheduled the video for release, but analysis of the timestamps revealed otherwise.
By querying YouTube, it was determined that the video was uploaded just minutes before its premiere time, ruling out the possibility that Mangione had scheduled its release. Additionally, video metadata analysis showed that the file was encoded and modified at 2:33 p.m. ET on December 9, 2024, while Mangione was already in custody.
Another suspicious aspect was the creation date of the YouTube channel. Created on January 20, 2024, the channel had been renamed to PepMangione following Mangione’s arrest. YouTube confirmed that the channel metadata was updated in response to the widespread media coverage of the arrest.
Following Mangione’s arrest, several social media accounts with similar names to PepMangione appeared on platforms like BlueSky and Telegram, adding to the intrigue surrounding the case.
