UnitedhealthBrian Thompson, the U.S. medical health insurance CEO who was shot lifeless in an obvious focused assault in Manhattan on Wednesday, had been receiving threats associated to medical “protection,” in response to his widow.
“There have been some threats,” Paulette Thompson instructed NBC. “Mainly, I don't know, the shortage of [medical] protection? “I don't know the main points.”
“I simply know that he stated there have been some individuals who had been threatening him.”
Thompson, who labored at UnitedHealth for a number of a long time earlier than rising to CEO, was shot within the again by an unknown assailant who’s now the goal of a police chase.
The suspect used a silencer connected to a gun when he arrived at a resort in Midtown Manhattan to talk at an insurance coverage convention.
Police haven’t recognized the killer or introduced any suspected motive. The killer fled to Central Park after the assault and stays at giant.
'Loving father' and 'revered colleague'
Mr. Thompson's loss of life was mourned by household and colleagues.
“We’re devastated to be taught of the mindless homicide of our beloved Brian,” his sister-in-law stated in an announcement issued on behalf of the household.
“Brian was an extremely loving, beneficiant and gifted man who really lived life to the fullest and touched many lives,” she stated.
She additionally added that he was “an extremely loving father” to the couple's two kids.
UnitedHealth Group stated it was “deeply saddened and shocked” by his loss of life.
“Brian was a colleague and good friend extremely revered by all who labored with him,” the corporate stated in an announcement.
“We’re working carefully with the NYPD and ask for his or her persistence and understanding throughout this tough time. Our hearts exit to Brian's household and everybody who was near him.”
CEO of the most important non-public well being insurer within the US
Thompson, who lived in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was named CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021.
He earned $10.2m (£8m) from the corporate final 12 months. In 2022, he earned $9.eight million and in 2021 he earned $9.6 million.
He started working on the medical health insurance supplier in 2004 and has held a number of management positions, together with CEO of the corporate's authorities applications division.
UnitedHealth is the most important non-public insurer within the US.
Earlier than beginning at UnitedHealth, Thompson was a supervisor at PwC for a number of years, in response to his LinkedIn account.
He graduated from the College of Iowa in 1997 with a bachelor's diploma in enterprise administration, he provides.
Fraud allegations
Thompson had confronted accusations of insider buying and selling.
A category motion lawsuit filed by a pension fund in Might 2024 alleged that Thompson bought $15 million of his UnitedHealth shares when he knew the corporate was beneath investigation by the U.S. Division of Justice.
Officers had been investigating whether or not the corporate violated U.S. antitrust regulation, in response to an investigation made public in a Wall Road Journal report in February.
The BBC has contacted UnitedHealth for remark.
UnitedHealth is a big firm with pursuits in insurance coverage, healthcare suppliers, pharmaceutical providers and well being information. In 2023 it had greater than $371 billion in income.
Based on court docket paperwork, the corporate has bought greater than 35 healthcare corporations over the previous 10 years. Justice Division investigators have been trying into whether or not he used his market energy to cut back competitors, harming prospects and workers.
The Wall Road Journal reported that officers interviewed healthcare trade representatives and requested them questions on “potential results of the corporate's acquisitions of medical teams on rivals and customers.”
The Metropolis of Hollywood Firefighters' Pension Fund filed a grievance in opposition to Thompson and different executives, accusing them of failing to tell traders concerning the investigation earlier than promoting a complete of greater than $117 million in firm inventory.
As long-term traders who buy giant quantities of inventory, pension funds sometimes act on behalf of shareholders and have proposed a class-action lawsuit in opposition to UnitedHealth.
The lawsuit remains to be lively.
police brochureThe corporate additionally faces authorized motion over its proposed acquisition of a rival healthcare firm.
UnitedHealth provided to purchase Amedisys, a supplier of dwelling well being care and palliative care providers, for $three.three billion (£2.6 billion).
However on November 12, the justice division sued to cease the mergerclaiming it could remove competitors and “hurt sufferers who obtain dwelling well being care and palliative care providers, insurers who contract for dwelling well being providers, and nurses who present dwelling well being care and hospice providers.”
UnitedHealth responded that the merger could be “pro-competitive and larger innovation, main to higher affected person outcomes and larger entry to high quality care.” He described the Justice Division's lawsuit as an “overreaching interpretation of the antitrust legal guidelines.”
Underneath President Joe Biden's administration, the Justice Division has stepped up enforcement of U.S. antitrust legal guidelines, which intention to forestall industrial monopolies and encourage competitors amongst corporations.