Prosecutors deny violating Luigi Mangione’s health privacy rights
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(NEW YORK) — Prosecutors in the state case against Luigi Mangione denied on Friday violating the medical privacy rights of the accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer, as his attorneys alleged, arguing they sought nothing more than “entirely unremarkable” information from his health insurer.
The defense accused prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office of violating Mangione’s rights protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act when they subpoenaed Aetna for information and “partially reviewed confidential, private, protected documents.” The defense sought to suppress the information.
The district attorney’s office said in a filing on Friday that there was nothing “secretive or nefarious” about a subpoena that sought “entirely unremarkable” information like Mangione’s account number and time period of coverage.
In response, Aetna turned over more information than prosecutors requested, prosecutors said.
“Given these circumstances, defendant’s real complaint is not about the subpoena itself, but about Aetna’s response to the subpoena, which included documents that the People had not requested,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said. “The People issued a valid subpoena to Aetna for an appropriately limited set of relevant information. Through no fault of the People, Aetna seemingly provided materials outside the scope of the subpoena. The People then properly identified the error and notified the Court and the defense and deleted our copy of said materials.”
The defense compounded Aetna’s mistake by sending prosecutors an email attaching the entire Aetna file that prosecutors had already deleted, Seidemann said.
“The defense nonetheless seeks to punish the People for the administrative mistakes of others, claiming that the People have perpetrated a ‘lie and a fraud’ against defendant — an inflammatory and dubious accusation without any basis,” Seidemann said.
Prosecutors urged the judge to grant no relief to Mangione and instead set a date for trial.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges alleging he murdered United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Midtown hotel where the executive was about to attend an investor conference last year. Mangione has also pleaded not guilty to federal charges that could result in the death penalty.
(ESPARTO, Calif) — Human remains have been found at the warehouse filled with fireworks that exploded in Northern California this week, officials said.
The number of fatalities was not released and no positive identifications have been made, Yolo County officials said. Seven people were considered missing on Wednesday.
“Recovery efforts are expected to continue throughout the weekend as investigators, coroner personnel, and fire crews work carefully and respectfully through the process,” county officials said on Friday. “The Coroner’s Office has been in contact with the families of those previously reported missing and will continue to provide them with timely updates as information becomes available.”
The blast occurred Tuesday night at a pyrotechnics facility in Esparto, about 40 miles from Sacramento, triggering a series of massive explosions, according to fire authorities.
Cal Fire and the Esparto Fire Protection District said crews were working to find the missing.
“We obviously do our best to train for every type of incident, but an incident like this is like a once-in-a-career type of incident,” Esparto Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence said at a news conference Wednesday.
The new conference was interrupted by an angry family member who said her boyfriend and brother-in-law were in the building.
“We’re all sick to our stomach, and we’re all waiting on the information [officials say] we should receive until Saturday, when I want to know today,” she said.
The origin and cause of the blast remains under investigation, county officials said Friday.
Cal Fire’s Office of the State Fire Marshal said it believes the facility belongs to a licensed pyrotechnics operator. Investigators are working to determine if the operation complied with California’s strict pyrotechnics regulations and federal explosive storage requirements.
“This type of incident is very rare,” Cal Fire officials said, noting that such facilities must follow stringent safety protocols.
“Our hearts and thoughts are with those we lost, their families, and everyone impacted in our community,” the management for Devastating Pyrotechnics, the company that owns the pyrotechnics business, said in a statement. “We are grateful for the swift response of law enforcement and emergency personnel. Our focus will remain on those directly impacted by this tragedy, and we will cooperate fully with the proper authorities in their investigation.”
The explosion led to the cancelation of multiple Fourth of July celebrations. The Cloverdale Lions Club announced Thursday that they were canceling their annual aerial fireworks display, as the Esparto facility was their designated supplier.
(SAN JOSE, Calif.) — Federal postal investigators are investigating why a car slammed into a neighborhood post office early Sunday morning in San Jose, California.
The post office building caught fire and was engulfed in flames after the car went into it.
The man arrested for the incident was Richard Tillman, who is the brother of late NFL star turned U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman, according to San Jose Police.
Richard Tillman, 44, was booked on suspicion of arson into the Santa Clara County Jail.
“Shortly after 3 a.m. the San Jose Fire and Police Departments responded to reports of a vehicle on fire in the box lobby area at the Almaden Valley Station Post Office. The fire was extinguished with no injuries,” the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said in a statement.
Federal investigators told ABC News they are aware of and investigating spray-painted words found on the post office building and claims that the driver live-streamed driving the car into the building.
The connection of the spray-painted words to the incident is not clear at this point, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
It is unclear if the driver was impaired.
ABC News has reached out to the Pat Tillman Foundation for comment from the family.
Pat Tillman put his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals on hold following the Sept. 11 attacks and enlisted in the Army. He was killed by friendly fire while serving in Afghanistan in 2004.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact postal inspectors at 877-876-2455.
(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) — Ahead of a federal hearing over Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, the acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a letter Thursday giving the school 30 days to challenge the administration’s revocation of that certification.
The letter formally notifies the school that its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification would be withdrawn — but backtracks from the administration’s earlier stance by giving Harvard 30 days to achieve compliance.
“Your school has 30 calendar days from the date of service of this Notice to submit written representations under oath and supported by documentary evidence, setting forth the reasons why SEVP should not withdraw your school’s certification,” the notice said. “If SEVP certification is withdrawn, your school will then no longer be approved to enroll or continue to educate nonimmigrant students.”
The notice comes one week after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced she had ordered the termination of the school’s SEVP certification.
“As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” Noem wrote last week in a letter to the university.
At a hearing Thursday shortly after the Trump administration issued its 30-day notice, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said she plans to issue a preliminary injunction that prohibits the Trump administration from revoking Harvard’s SEVP certification without first going through the legally required procedure.
“I do think an order is necessary. It doesn’t need to be draconian, but I want to make sure nothing changes. I want to maintain the status quo,” the judge said at the hearing, which took place as thousands of Harvard students and their families gathered for the school’s commencement.
For now, Judge Burroughs said a temporary restraining order she issued last week will remain in place until a preliminary injunction is ironed out.
Burroughs said that, despite the Trump administration’s backtracking, she felt an order was necessary to protect Harvard’s international students.
“I would feel more comfortable given what has preceded this,” she said during 20-minute hearing. “It gives some protection to international students who are anxious about coming here.”
Department of Justice attorney Tiberius Davis pushed back on the restraining order, saying the issue had effectively become “moot” since the Trump administration changed course.
“The Department has decided it would be better, simpler going forward, to go through the procedure,” Davis said.
Despite the change, Harvard attorney Ian Gershengorn said that a restraining order was still necessary, arguing that the Trump administration was unlawfully violating the school’s First Amendment rights by retaliating against the school for its decision not to budge to other demands from the government. He called the recent notice “the next step” in the Trump administration’s campaign to retaliate against the school.
“There seems to be a different set of rules, procedures for Harvard,” he said. “The First Amendment harms we are suffering are real and continuing.”
Judge Burroughs suggested that the parties might end up coming back to court in a few months, once the legal process has played out, to determine if the potential revocation is retaliatory.
“By that point, we think the case would be quite different,” Davis said.
Arguing that the Trump administration actions are part of a “campaign to coerce Harvard into surrendering its First Amendment rights,” Harvard has alleged that the SEVP revocation is unlawful because it violates the school’s free speech rights; that the policy is arbitrary and therefore violates the Administrative Procedure Act; and that the policy runs roughshod over the school’s due process protections because it was not given the opportunity to respond to the revocation.
“The surrounding events, and Defendants’ express statements, make clear that the Department of Homeland Security took these actions not for any valid reason, but purely as punishment for Harvard’s speech, its perceived viewpoint, and its refusal to surrender its academic independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” the school said in its lawsuit against the Trump administration.
“It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” said the suit.
DHS officials have said that the revocation was necessary because Harvard failed to turn over information about international students — including disciplinary records — as requested by the Trump administration.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused.’ DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement last week.
Harvard is also fighting the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze more $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the school. Harvard filed a separate lawsuit to challenge the funding freeze in April, and the next hearing in that case is set for July.
Trump has continued to ratchet up the pressure on the school over the last two months, threatening to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status, directing his administration to cancel contracts with the school, and continuing to demand information on international students. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump suggested that Harvard should cap the number of international students to 15% of the school’s total student body.
“We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can’t get in because we have foreign students there. But I want to make sure that the foreign students are people that can love our country,” Trump said.
