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In reply to the discussion: So it was a revenge killing of UHC Executive [View all]LeftInTX
(30,612 posts)Thompson in May was sued for alleged fraud and illegal insider trading. The Hollywood Firefighters Pension Fund filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, CEO Andrew Witty, Executive Chairman Stephen Hemsley and Thompson, alleging the executives schemed to inflate the companys stock by failing to disclose a US Justice Department antitrust investigation into the company.
UnitedHealth Group in 2021 announced it would buy Change Healthcare. The Justice Department sued to break up the deal but a judge ultimately allowed it go through. But the Wall Street Journal in February 2024 reported the Department of Justice re-opened its case, even after the merger went through, to investigate whether the companies properly set up a so-called firewall to prevent customer information from flowing between divisions of the merged company.
The lawsuit claimed Thompson knew about the investigation as early as October 2023 and sold 31% of his company shares, making a $15 million profit, 11 days before the Journal publicized the probe. The Journal report sent UnitedHealths stock sinking 5%.
The revelation of the alleged insider trading led Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to write a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 29, calling on Chairman Gary Gensler to investigate UnitedHealth for the executives stock sales. The senators noted Thompson faced up to $5 million in penalties and 20 years of prison time if convicted.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/04/business/who-was-brian-thompson/index.html