UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was one of numerous senior executives being investigated by the Justice Department for insider trading at the time he was murdered in Manhattan on Wednesday.
Thompson exercised stock options and sold shares worth $15.1 million in February, approximately two weeks before news of the federal antitrust investigation became public. The price of the stock plummeted after it was revealed that the DOJ was probing whether the company had made acquisitions in violation of antitrust laws that consolidated its market position.
Thompson's stock options allegedly had several years until they were to expire, and the sale of the shares was his first since he took the position in 2021.
Thompson, along with UnitedHealth Group Chair Stephen Hemsley, Chief People Officer Erin McSweeney and Chief Accounting Officer Tom Roos, had sold a total of $101.5 million in shares.