MINNEAPOLIS — Lawsuits over alleged insider trading within UnitedHealth are coming to light.
The City of Hollywood Firefighters Pension Fund is engaged in a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group and some of its top executives, according to court filings from May.
Two of those executives are UHG’s Board Chair Stephen Hemsley and UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson per the lawsuit.
Thompson was shot and killed in New York City Wednesday morning. The New York Police Department said it was a targeted attack, but the motive is still unclear.
The lawsuit alleges UnitedHealth knew the Department of Justice had been investigating them since October 2023. At that time, the complaint said the company did not inform its investors or the public. That news came to light in February 2024.
According to the lawsuit, between October 2023 – February 2024, Hemsely “sold over $102 million of his personally held UnitedHealth shares.” It states Thompson sold over $15 million of his personal shares.
After this lawsuit was filed, three more were filed in Minnesota between July - August. Two of them were consolidated and terminated, while a third is still active.
The lawsuits claim Hemsley and Thompson exploited their positions and violated the healthcare company’s code of conduct.
However, the DOJ was looking into UnitedHealth a couple of years ago for alleged antitrust violations. UnitedHealth announced they were acquiring Change, a healthcare technology company that connects patients and providers with healthcare systems. The DOJ sued to try and stop that acquisition, but a judge sided with UnitedHealth.