Who was Brian Thompson, healthcare CEO gunned down in New York?
UnitedhealthBrian Thompson, the US healthcare insurance chief executive who was gunned down in Manhattan, had been receiving threats relating to medical "coverage", according to his widow.
"There had been some threats," Paulette Thompson told NBC. "Basically, I don’t know, a lack of [medical] coverage? I don’t know details.
"I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him."
Mr Thompson was shot in the back by a masked assailant on 4 December as he was walking into a hotel where the company he led was holding an investors' meeting.
Five days later, police charged an Ivy League graduate, Luigi Mangione, with murdering Mr Thompson, after detaining him at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania.
The 26-year-old had a handwritten document expressing "ill will" towards corporate America, say investigators.
The same day a private funeral for Mr Thompson was held at a Lutheran church near where he had lived in Maple Grove, Minnesota.
A statement issued on behalf of the family last week said: “We are shattered to hear about the senseless killing of our beloved Brian.
"Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives."
The statement added that he was "an incredibly loving father" to his two sons.
Mr Thompson and his wife, Paulette, had been living separately at the time of his death, the Wall Street Journal reported.
UnitedHealth Group said it was "deeply saddened and shocked" by his death.
"Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him," the company said in statement.
Mr Thompson was named chief executive of UnitedHealthcare - the largest private insurer in the US - in April 2021.
He was paid $10.2m (£8m) last year. He started at the company in 2004, before working his way up.
Before joining UnitedHealthcare, Mr Thompson was a manager at accountancy giant PwC for a number of years, according to his LinkedIn account.
He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997 with a bachelor's in business administration, it adds.
Mr Thompson had been facing insider trading allegations.
A class-action lawsuit filed in May 2024 alleged that he sold $15m of his UnitedHealth Group shares, knowing that the company was reportedly facing an antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice.
The City of Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund initiated a complaint against Mr Thompson and other executives, accusing them of failing to tell investors about the investigation before selling more than $117m in company stock.
The lawsuit remains active.
