The DOJ opened an investigation into UnitedHealth before the CEO’s assassination

Several UnitedHealthcare executives were under investigation by the Justice Department, but it is not clear whether CEO Brian Thompson was involved in those investigations before his murder.

Thompson was shot Wednesday morning in midtown Manhattan in what police are calling a targeted attack.

There have been reports that the executives were accused of insider trading and fraud, and last year the DOJ opened an investigation to determine whether the nation’s largest insurer was unfairly restricting competition and exercising a monopoly.

Last month, the DOJ, along with attorneys general from Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and New York, filed a lawsuit seeking to block UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s proposed $3.3 billion acquisition of rival home health and hospice provider Amedisys Inc .

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UnitedHealthcare signage is displayed outside a store in the New York City borough of Queens on Monday, January 14, 2013. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

According to the lawsuit, the transaction would eliminate competition between UnitedHealth and Amedisys.

Eliminating competition would harm patients who use home health and hospice services, as well as insurers who contract with home health services and nurses who provide those services, the DOJ said.

“We challenge this coalition because home care and hospice patients and their families who are experiencing some of the most difficult moments of their lives deserve affordable, high-quality care options,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said last month. “The Department of Justice will not hesitate to prevent unlawful consolidations and monopolizations in the healthcare marketplace that threaten to harm vulnerable patients, their families, and healthcare workers.”

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The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed in NYC on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (Fox News Digital/UnitedHealthcare/Fox News)

Both companies view each other as close competitors in home health and hospice services, and UnitedHealth’s proposal would eliminate that competition.

UnitedHealth proposed divesting certain facilities to VitalCaring Group to resolve some of the overlap between UnitedHealth and Amedisys, the DOJ said. However, this proposal does not mitigate the harm in over 100 home health, hospice and employment markets, the DOJ added, which generate over $1 billion in revenue each year, care for at least 200,000 patients, and simultaneously employ at least 4,000 nurses.

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“American health care is not doing well. If this $3.3 billion transaction is not stopped, UnitedHealth Group will continue to expand its influence into home health and hospice care, putting seniors, their families and nurses at risk,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

FOX Business has reached out to UnitedHealth but has not yet heard back.