Slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was among several executives at the company under investigation by the Department of Justice at the time of his death. Thompson, 50, was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan Wednesday morning in an apparent targeted attack. According to Fox Business, the executives were accused of fraud and insider trading. The Justice Department reportedly launched a probe last year into whether the company was “unfairly restricting competitors and running a monopoly.” UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was facing DOJ probe for insider trading when he was killed in targeted NYC shooting https://t.co/rOz3CPK88B pic.twitter.com/turuUiuPtM — New York Post (@nypost) December 4, 2024 Fox Business reports: Last month, the DOJ along with attorneys generals from Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and New York filed a lawsuit to block UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s proposed $3.3 billion acquisition of rival home health and hospice provider Amedisys Inc. The transaction, according to the complaint, would eliminate competition between UnitedHealth and Amedisys. By eliminating the competition, patients who receive home health and hospice services would be harmed, as would insurers who contract for home health services and nurses who provide those services, according to the DOJ. “We are challenging this merger because home health and hospice patients and their families 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 Justice Department will not hesitate to check unlawful consolidation and monopolization in the healthcare market that threatens to harm vulnerable patients, their families, and health care workers.” ASSASSINATION: Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare had been under investigation by the DOJ for insider trading. He reportedly exercised stock options and sold shares worth $15.1 million shortly before news of an antitrust probe became public. pic.twitter.com/D0qdLSpyLQ — @amuse (@amuse) December 4, 2024 From the New York Post: Thompson — who was killed in what police called a targeted shooting outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown — exercised stock options and sold shares worth $15.1 million on Feb. 16, less than two weeks before news of the federal antitrust probe went public, according to a Crain’s New York Business report from April. The stock price dropped sharply after the revelation that the DOJ was investigating whether the company had made acquisitions that consolidated its market position in violation of antitrust laws, a source familiar with the probe told the outlet. Thompson’s stock options reportedly had several years until expiration, and the sale of shares was his first since assuming the helm of parent company UnitedHealth’s insurance division in 2021. Thompson, 50, along with UnitedHealth Group chairman Stephen Helmsley, chief people officer Erin McSweeney and chief accounting officer Tom Roos, sold a combined $101.5 million in shares, with Helmsley personally netting just shy of $85 million, according to the report.

You can imagine the grins and guffaws at the notion of Bob Dylan of singing traditional holiday hymns. Then again, Dylan’s been caving in to a lot of activities no one ever dreamed he’d do — writing Bob Dylan Chronicles: Volume One, making the Don’t Look Back documentary with Martin Scorsese, having his own radio show, making his own whiskey, posting on Twitter. Perhaps Christmas In The Heart, released in 2009, is the Bard’s attempt at fun-for-the entire-family accessibility. Drop the needle, so to speak, and the gruff voice singing “Here Comes Santa Clause,” Winter Wonderland,” “Silver Bells’ and 12 other Christmas classics is, at once, warm, comforting, nostalgic. And not just in an it’s-getting-to-be-late-Fall-so-let’s-get-in-the-mood-for-the-holidays way; rather, the record sparkles in a pure Americana kind of way. This is a Rockwell painting come to life — not some kind of ironic commentary on the past. Dylan surprisingly captures the spirit perfectly without sounding foolish or facetious. It baffles the mind, but this could very well turn out to be one of his most memorable records. The playing is excellent throughout, although the Mixed Voice Singers tend to get a bit gushy and over-the-top at times. Naysayers may think it’s all one big joke, but Dylan admirers will recognize this album is much better than it has a right to be. Still, it wouldn’t be Dylan without touches of humor here and there. See if you can spot the altered lyrics in the polka-like “Must Be Santa” (“Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton”). And the colorful and alluring picture of Bettie Page on the backside of the CD booklet seems to tie the whole thing together in some strange way. After almost 50 years, what could be better than discovering that someone as enigmatic and iconic as Bob Dylan has Christmas In The Heart. ~ Shawn Perry

The first poll regarding the pardon of Hunter Biden by his father President Joe Biden has revealed that the majority of Americans reject the move. 

According to Bill Melugin, the Boston city council voted unanimously to continue preventing Boston’s police department from working with ICE, making their jobs more dangerous and putting public safety at risk. Melugin says, “ICE’s Boston office is one of the busiest in the country, making weekly arrests of illegal alien child rapists & pedophiles throughout […] The post Boston Votes to Protect Their Criminal Aliens appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.