UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was brutally murdered in a focused assault outdoors a Manhattan resort on Wednesday.
Thompson, a high-profile govt within the medical insurance trade, was reportedly below investigation by the Division of Justice (DOJ) for allegations of insider buying and selling and trying to thwart monopolistic practices throughout the healthcare sector.
Thompson, 50, was gunned down round 6:45 a.m. outdoors the Hilton resort on Sixth Avenue, the place he was scheduled to attend UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor convention.
Surveillance footage reveals a masked assailant approaching Thompson from behind and firing a number of pictures earlier than fleeing on an electrical bike towards Central Park.
“It does appear that he’s proficient in using firearms as he was capable of clear the malfunctions fairly shortly,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny mentioned on the information convention.
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The New York Police Division reported that the assault seems to have been focused, though the motives stay unclear. Thompson was pronounced lifeless on the scene after sustaining a number of gunshot wounds.
Regulation enforcement officers are providing a $10,000 reward for data resulting in the suspect’s arrest.
The NYPD is investigating the incident as a attainable assassination, given Thompson’s high-profile standing and the continuing DOJ investigation.
Thompson, who turned CEO of UnitedHealthcare in 2021, and different high executives had reportedly come below DOJ scrutiny in current months.
In February, Thompson exercised inventory choices and bought shares price $15.1 million, lower than two weeks earlier than information of a federal antitrust probe into UnitedHealth turned public—a revelation that led to a pointy decline within the firm’s inventory worth.
UnitedHealth Group’s chairman, Stephen Helmsley, Chief Individuals Officer Erin McSweeney, and Chief Accounting Officer Tom Roos collectively additionally bought over $101.5 million in shares.
Helmsley alone reportedly netted almost $85 million. These transactions, revealed in a Crain’s New York Business exposé, are actually the topic of an intense DOJ probe into potential violations of insider buying and selling legal guidelines.
Along with the insider buying and selling allegations, Thompson was additionally accused of trying to halt UnitedHealthcare’s enlargement into monopolistic dominance throughout the healthcare trade, in response to Fox News.
The information outlet reported:
There have been stories that the executives have been accused of insider buying and selling and fraud, and final yr the DOJ launched a probe into whether or not the nation’s largest insurer was unfairly limiting opponents and working a monopoly.
Final month, the DOJ together with attorneys generals from Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and New York filed a lawsuit to dam UnitedHealth Group Integrated’s proposed $3.3 billion acquisition of rival dwelling well being and hospice supplier Amedisys Inc.
The transaction, in response to the criticism, would get rid of competitors between UnitedHealth and Amedisys.
By eliminating the competitors, sufferers who obtain dwelling well being and hospice companies can be harmed, as would insurers who contract for dwelling well being companies and nurses who present these companies, in response to the DOJ.
“We’re difficult this merger as a result of dwelling well being and hospice sufferers and their households experiencing a few of the most troublesome moments of their lives deserve reasonably priced, prime quality care choices,” Lawyer Common Merrick B. Garland mentioned final month. “The Justice Division won’t hesitate to test illegal consolidation and monopolization within the healthcare market that threatens to hurt susceptible sufferers, their households, and well being care employees.”
Each firms view one another as shut opponents for dwelling well being and hospice companies, and UnitedHealth’s proposal would get rid of that competitors.
Including to the corporate’s woes, UnitedHealth suffered one of many largest healthcare knowledge breaches in U.S. historical past earlier this yr, compromising the non-public knowledge of probably one-third of Individuals. The corporate paid a $22 million ransom to the hackers and estimated the monetary impression of the breach at round $705 million, in response to the New York Post.
