Was UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson about to testify against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for insider trading before his death on December 4, 2024? No, that's not true: There's no evidence connecting his death to insider trading allegations involving Pelosi, nor has Pelosi been accused of such a crime. However, in May 2024, Thompson was named in an insider trading lawsuit filed by the Hollywood Firefighters' Pension Fund against UnitedHealth Group executives.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Threads on December 7, 2024. It opened:
🚨BREAKING: Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was set to testify against Nancy Pelosi for insider trading.
This is what the post looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Mon Dec 9 16:50:38 2024 UTC)
The post didn't provide any proof to support its assertion that Thompson was about to testify against Pelosi for insider trading before he was killed.
Google search
A Google News search (archived here) using the phrase "Brian Thompson was about to testify against Nancy Pelosi for insider trading before he was killed" yielded more than a dozen results but none of them supported the claim's authenticity. The results did return a fact check published by a reputable source that also debunked the claim.
A separate Google News search (archived here) using the terms "Nancy Pelosi" and "insider trading" showed many stories, but none linked her to an investigation. While some Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, have criticized Pelosi over her husband's stock trades, there was no evidence of legal action at the time of Thompson's death.
Lawsuit
There's no evidence of Pelosi being charged with insider trading. However, Thompson was named in a 2024 lawsuit. A CNN report (archived here) published on December 4, 2024, said:
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 company's 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 UnitedHealth's stock sinking 5%.
On April 29, 2024, Democratic Sens Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey wrote (archived here) to the Securities and Exchange Commission, urging it to investigate UnitedHealth over alleged insider trading by executives. They cited a Bloomberg News article from April 11, 2024, that mentioned Thompson under a headline that said, "UnitedHealth Chair, Executives Sold $102 Million in Stock Before US Probe Became Public."
An April 30, 2024, press release (archived here) from Warren's office said this about the "insider trading concerns":
'The reports regarding these trades reveal a disturbing fact pattern,' wrote the lawmakers. 'The timing of these trades... raises numerous questions. UnitedHealth's stock value fell by 5.2% immediately after the published reports of the investigation.'
'Federal law bars individuals from "purchasing or selling a security while in possession of material nonpublic information" - in this case, reportedly, a DOJ investigation of the company. Violation of these laws may subject individuals to civil penalties "three times the amount of the profit gained or loss avoided" and criminal penalties up to $5,000,000 and 20 years imprisonment,' concluded the lawmakers.
Read more
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims involving Brian Thompson can be found here.
