By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-14 22:45:16 | Updated at 2024-12-15 00:51:17
2 hours ago
It looks like Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs have more in common than orange jumpsuits and ankle shackles.
Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, the high-powered lawyer hired by UnitedHealthcare murder suspect Luigi Mangione, is married to none other than Marc Agnifilio, who has been representing the rapper as he battles sex trafficking charges.
Friedman-Agnifilo is a former prosecutor who ditched her longtime position as the head of the sex crimes unit in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2021 to join her husband’s private firm, Agnifilo Intrater LLP .
Before joining her husband in the private sector, Friedman-Agnifilo clocked in seven years as second in command to District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
Her marital relationship even caused career strife at times — Friedman-Agnifilo was forced to recuse herself from several cases in which her husband was representing accused suspects, including Harvey Weisnetin’s rape prosecution.
The disgraced movie mogul retained a member of the Agnifilo Intrater LLP team in 2017 after “Boardwalk Empire” actress Paz de la Huerta made “credible and detailed” claims that Weinstein raped her several years earlier, meaning Friedman-Agnifilo had no choice but to step down from the case.
Friedman-Agnifilo also clocked in time as the lead investigator on allegations that Seton Hall’s former board chairman sexually harassed the school’s former president’s wife, a claim later found to be unsubstantiated.
Other attorneys said it was no surprise she was plucked to represent the blockbuster Mangione case.
“She’s got as much experience as any human being, especially in the state court,” a New York prosecutor told CNN.
“She knows every corridor, every judge, every clerk in the courthouse.”
Mangione — a 26-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate — is accused of fatally shooting Thompson as the 50-year-old CEO walked to the Hilton hotel on Sixth Avenue, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company was holding its annual investor conference on Dec. 4.
The alleged assassin led police on a five-day manhunt that ended when he was taken into custody at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Monday after an employee recognized him and called the police.
He is being held in Pennsylvania.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the slew of charges levied against him, including murder and gun possession.
