Summary
Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot in a premeditated attack outside the New York Hilton Midtown before speaking at an investor conference.
The gunman, still at large, fired multiple times, leaving shell casings marked with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.”
Authorities suggest Thompson was targeted but remain unclear on the motive. His wife confirmed prior threats against him.
Analysts speculate a possible vendetta tied to his company. The case raises questions about executive security, as Thompson lacked personal protection despite known risks.
The case raises questions about executive security
Thankfully it doesn’t raise any questions about the place of billionaire CEOs of companies making life and death decisions for the general populace for the sake of their overflowing pocket book. Boy would that be awkward.
The case raises questions about executive security
Weird. I don’t have any questions about that.
Just FYI - he was worth about $43 million. https://blackstarnews.com/brian-thompson-net-worth/
Sure, he was in the upswing of his career making $20m a year since 2021. Also being investigated for fraud/insider trading for selling $15m of stocks before results of a federal antitrust investigation became public. Sounds swell.
Is this like the Boomer thing where we use one word that means one thing to describe something else?
I feel like sarcasm is pretty timeless.
No it’s more like when you say “frick” instead of “fuck.”
Just curious: do you know any life or death decision he personally made that wasn’t the result of hundreds of bean counters crafting policy over many years? I find it hard to believe the ceo rubber stamped any decision like that, or even that he was aware of the details of any individual case.
The CEO is ultimately responsible for the actions of the company. That’s literally their job. They set policy, direction and strategy, and if we’re to listen to what CEOs say they do,they also set the tone, attitude and energy of the company.
So unless the denials that resulted in death were done in opposition to corporate policy, the CEO is responsible for them.
Additionally, there was literally nothing stopping him from pushing a company policy of, as a thought, approving all claims involving minors, changing approval standards to only deny when the treatment was unequivocally unnecessary after a verbal consultation between the patients doctor and the insurance review doctor, and moving the balance of claim review to fraud investigation to recoup money after instead of denying upfront.
He’s only been there since 2021. These policies don’t show up overnight. How do you know he wasn’t working to change these policies?
Being in charge since 2021 means he got to decide at least some policies during the pandemic, which arguably could’ve caused even more harm if he wanted to deny a portion of claims solely to keep shareholders happy
First, because I’m not naive and know that CEOs don’t get large bonuses and stock grants for doing stuff like that, particularly not in the US health insurance industry.
Second, we know that since he started there they began programs like using AI in a fashion that had a preposterously high denial rate, and actively hurt elderly people.
this case, and others like it continued to happen during his tenure.
Finally, a company wouldn’t do a program like that without mentioning it, since it would clearly make them a more appealing insurer.Even if he didn’t put the policies in place, he’s still responsible for the conduct of the company under his supervision, and there’s no indication he did anything other than act like what you would expect from an insurance company CEO. Maximizing profits by denying healthcare.
Decisions that led to his company having the worst denial rate nationwide and the decision to wholly adopt an AI system that is known to have a 90% error rate to achieve it. Overflowing profits and bonuses sank right in to his pockets for his business acumen, and the key thing you do to earn that CEO payday is sign off on everything and be culpable when the shit hits the fan.
that’s the thing about being the chief, the buck stops there.
Yes the machine of human misery and death was already constructed before Mr Thompson got into the drivers seat. What’s you’re point? That he somehow didn’t know it was a death machine?
Strange to me that people are celebrating this guys death without knowing him or anything about how much his actions caused the issues with uhcs policy. He was handed the reign and therfore deserved death is the general tone here. Seems unjust and evil to me. I wouldn’t wish murder on anyone, worrying so many seem to disagree.
No one actually gives a shit about Brian Thomas personally. People see “United Healthcare CEO dead” and they say “good”. Maybe you’re not from the US but its not strange at all.
You can’t put bullets in a “system”.
Preexisting bullets have somehow migrated thru his ass. Had he checked with his doctor before they would have caught the bullets. Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do…except maybe monopoly! Or how about a game of checkers? Or tictactoe?
CEOs of these companies will say things along the lines of find a way to deny an extra X% of claims this year, our profits are down!
Edit: and I wouldn’t be surprised if they said something like or find a reason to deny that will get overturned if looked at further but maybe they won’t fight back hard enough.
Authorities suggest Thompson was targeted but remain unclear on the motive.
Friggin Sherlock Holmes’ over here.
The case raises questions about executive security
“We won’t be pressured into changing the system we’ll just protect the rich exploiters better”
Its simple all you clueless colombos. Just start investigating all denied claims where the person died at a result. Shouldn’t take more than a decade or so to go though that list.
You misspelled century
You also need to include deaths due to delayed or inadequate treatment, and suicides related to medical debt
its all been discarded by now.
Despite a fairly obvious motive in general before this news broke, and now confirmation it was because of their policies, they are doing zero soul searching or reexamination of why their policies became a motive
Thompson’s killing quickly sent shockwaves through the corporate world, with corporate security heads gathering in a conference call to Wednesday.
“Many of my colleagues today are sitting down with their executive protection team leaders, their security leadership teams, and re-evaluating what they are doing and not doing,” Dave Komendat, president of Seattle-based Komendat Risk Management Services
Who had neo-Pinkertons on their 2020s bingo?
Pinkerton’s still exist but are under the Swedish firm Securitas 🔴🔴🔴.
I was amazed to learn this one time.
Pinkertons always sounded such a Old Western thing, then I googled them or something and realised I see their patrol cars and guards most days. (Securitas operates in Finland.)
Yeah, Securitas are huge. They are the second largest private security company in the world by revenue (the largest being G4S). I didn’t know they were THAT big until recently when I watched an investigate news/documentary report (by UG) on them
It should however be noted that Pinkerton apparently operate as a subsidiary and does investigative and other Pinkerton stuff like normal. The Securitas you probably think of when you hear Securitas is still Securitas and not Pinkerton.
As an emoji connoisseur, I tip my hat to you
GOONS, HIRED GOONS!
Hired Goons?!
You did not think I made my fortune by writing checks did you?
that sounds a lot dirtier this decade than it did last
After Hasbro sent the Pinkertons to get fucking MtG cards last year, this wouldn’t be surprising
I am happy that they are scared
I mean they could stop hi fiving in the boardroom when their AI is denying care to people who have paid for insurance all of their lives.
I don’t think murdering people in the street is a just act, though. Mainly because of same reason I didn’t think the government should be killing people–the error rate is too high and someone innocent gets killed.
The Punisher would be a lot less cool of he left a trail of innocent people behind.
That said, when I saw this happen I immediately thought of the UniteHealth AI denying elderly care story I had read the day or morning before.
Healthcare boardrooms across the country have probably been celebrating the idea they can deny people like they’ve always done PLUS blame it on a computer, now. High five 🙏
Oops. Murder seems to be a side effect of evil.
yo
authorities remain unclear about the motive
the authorities are fucking idiots
They know the motive, they just don’t have enough proof to say it publicly. They like to keep things vague.
More likely too many motives that fit.
They know the motives but the lords above them tell them to shut up and say they don’t know.
Damn, he was really about sending a message 😬
Clarity in connection is a positive thing. Ambiguity breeds confusion.
nice.
Make money ruining the well being of families, eventually retribution will be had.
Authorities suggest Thompson was targeted but remain unclear on the motive.
Ummmm, real solid police work here. Although motive might be hard to narrow down, its not like this was a popular CEO.
a n a l y s t s
Given the situation millions of Americans find themselves in, certainly someone was going to take lethal action. Say you have terminal cancer and our insurance made your life worse and shorter. What do you have to lose when your life is gone? From the other perspective, would you seriously betray a person that results in them getting a terminal illness? What do you think you would be risking? Imagine doing it to tens of thousands on a yearly basis. All it would take is to betray the wrong person.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
True, this hero was only able to murder one person with a gun, but that CEO was able to murder thousands with a pen
But sword beats paper. Buy one today!
pen is
hehe
Nice.
“The motive remains unclear” is one of those things that, as a journalist, you know you have to write because it is absolutely the truth, but you hate yourself for every letter of every word because you know how fucking stupid it sounds given the circumstances.
“I mean, there are millions of people with motive. Which one in particular we will hopefully never know”
Deny that you know or even saw them. Defend them if they do get caught, through protest, fundraising, bail, etc. Depose those who put them in jail if they are sentenced.
Unless it turns out he was murdered by, for example, an irate shareholder who didn’t make the money he wanted to make.
There is more than one reason he could have been murdered.
For some very weird reason it never crossed my mind, and I really do not know why, that I could invest in a huge healthcare corporation whose target it is to provide as little healthcare as possible. But your comment made me think about that that is possible to do.
Murder bingo, murder scavenger hunt, time traveler trying to stop the future apocalypse no lack of options…
Are you really suggesting that only possible realistic motive to murder him is because of his position at UHC?
I can think of so many plausible scenarios. I just gave you one, here’s another: he was cheating on his wife, so she paid to have him killed, something that actually happens in the real world and doesn’t involved time travelers.
I’m sure you would like this to be a just world where bad people get killed for good reasons, but that’s not how the world works. Hitler’s generals tried to assassinate him and it wasn’t because they thought he was being too mean to the Jews.
Are you really suggesting
nope, just toying around with the concept, figured it would be about 3/5 on the joke scale.
edit: Though if you really wanted to get into it, the words scribed on the casings might direct you to a likely solution. *
Or the words on the casings are intended to direct you to the wrong solution. Because, again in the real world, people who commit premeditated crimes throw police off the scent intentionally.
Ehh, I think Occam would have the better of that here.
In any case. (no pun intended) Maybe they’ll spend a few minutes reflecting on the own mortality while they’re ripping us off thinking there’s no recourse.
Ehh, I think Occam would have the better of that here.
Would you say the same about this?
People commit crimes and then pin the blame on someone else literally every day. It’s like the easiest way to try to get away with a crime.
Ah yes. “The murderer must be playing 5d chess to fool people” angle. It’s an angle, but not a reasonable one. How much Scooby Doo have you watched?
It takes “5D chess” to write vague words on bullet casings?
Possible vs Probable.
Lots of things are possible, sure, but his position and impact on people due to his position does make one very probable.
I am guessing you do not know enough about him personally to know what is the most probable. Maybe he very openly cheats on his wife. That would make his wife hiring a hit man very probable. Maybe he’s swindled someone out of a ton of money on a personal level rather than via UHC. Again, that would make a good motive to kill him.
We do not have enough information here and pretending we do is not very wise.
True, it’s possible he has numerous enemies.
But what I can say is the average person doesn’t have people wanting to kill them. If all things are equal, and given the message written on the casings, there seems to be one that is currently the most probable.
He MAYBE fucked around on his one wife causing embarrassment.
He CERTAINLY fucked around with THOUSANDS of people causing DEATH.
It’s worthwhile to consider alternatives but it’s unwise to paint all scenarios as equally likely.
It’s also unwise to come to a conclusion when the person who did it hasn’t even been identified.
Obviously there are many plausible scenarios, but one of them scales significantly differently than the others.
If there are many plausible scenarios, even if one is the most plausible, it’s silly to assume that’s the one.
It’s only silly if one misunderstands an assumption to be established fact.
If I hear hoofbeats, I will assume horses, not zebras.
If I see Zebras, I’ll say my assumption was wrong. No shame in it. I’m wrong all the fucking time, being right isn’t part of my identity.
But until then, if someone says “what do figure those hoofbeats are?” I’m not going to say “50/50 horses or zebras”
Assumptions are claimed to be established facts. That’s what an assumption is. You’re making a claim of fact without having the evidence.
Absolutely, hence why they do have to say that the motive is unclear. While we all have strong theories about why this happened, there are plenty of other possibilities that have to be considered. Could have been taken out by his family for insurance money, could have been a business rival, the guy might have gotten in shit with the mob. At this point they just don’t know.
The impression I got from when I lived in the US is that at his level, US oligarchs generally don’t like getting their hands dirty and there are strong communal disincentives to disrespecting “honour among thieves” laws. All the oligarchs groups will gang up on you if you use direct violence against another oligarch.
From what I’ve read, the “mob” in the US largely has no power, definitely nothing on the level of Brian Thompson. Even transnational groups (Mexican cartels, EU gangs, central American gangs) keep a low profile in the US and make a concentrated effort to avoid publicity.
I will admit, family issues is a possibility. Difficult to say. The business rivalry or mob connection doesn’t seem even in the realm of possibility, but I could be wrong.
Exactly. We just don’t have enough information yet and it is just silly to assume this is some sort of just world where people behind atrocities that are subsequently murdered are murdered because of those atrocities.
He wrote Deny, defend, depose on the bullets. That’s him speaking the language that the insurance industry uses. I would say that broadly, we know his motive. Who the company denied a claim for is the only real question here.
As I said to someone else, do you really believe this was done by pro-Palestine activists?
It is silly to make assumptions based on three words. It’s especially silly to assume someone isn’t smart enough to make police think they’re not the guilty party.
No I don’t think it has anything to do with Palestine, and everything to do with this book
He switched delay to depose to send a clear message to the insurance industry. That message being, “there’s a fourth step that you fuckers have forgotten in your three step strategy.”
Maybe you should have at least read the name of the URL. I didn’t say that this has anything to do with Palestine.
Please, if you’re not going to read the article, at least read the name of the URL and then respond to me accordingly.
“It is still unclear which of the potential motives caused the man to pull the trigger”
Nah, that’s a cop out. They could absolutely find somebody speculating on the motive to quote if they wanted to.
Yeah, just put a random tweet in like they usually do
“The motive remains unclear”
Was it him that got denied, or was it a recently deceased family member?
There’s several options.
That seems like terrible wording. Why not just say the motive is unconfirmed with the suspect if that’s what’s needed to state it as fact?
As of about a month ago there had been ~320 murders in NYC this year.
Yet this single one has captured the media’s attention nationwide and cops seem to be heavily focused on this one.
Because modern society at pretty much every institutional level sees the wealthy and powerful as not just more important than us, but they dont even see us. Hell, compare this to school shootings that only make local news now.
Historically, societies like this end in an incredibly brutal fashion. And until the wealthy and powerful really can build terminator style robot armies…
The masses are always going to win.
It’s kind of the natural consequences of hyper concentration of a finite and essential resource. People rarely sit around and starve voluntarily, and once the majority are starving, people start acting like a mob.
We see it day to day over minor stuff where people just refuse to follow societial norms. Everyday we’re shown that rules don’t really matter, and none of the people who matter are held accountable. If someone isn’t physically stopped from doing something, they take that as permission. Hell, that was the defense of most 1/6ers.
The social contract was invalidated a long time ago, people are just now realizing it. And that’s the only thing that really seperates us from animals.
Crashing out is gonna be the norm pretty fucking soon, I don’t think we have 4 years or that trump will be able to hold society together.
There’s a very high chance we’re gonna live in some interesting times.
There’s a very high chance we’re gonna live in some interesting times.
That was a well written post, but DAMN am I sick of living in interesting times!
I want boring times please for awhile. BORING times.
I hope this is a start and that it will continue. They have left no other alternative
I think the biggest thing to emphasize - and you mentioned it but I think it bears repeating over and over - is that when the system fails to enforce justice, people will seek justice themselves. This is the social contract you mentioned. I think we should expect more of this until the system is reformed and people like this do face justice within it.
“When peaceful disobedience doesn’t work the people don’t stop being disobedient, they stop being peaceful.”
Not really.
Look up the origin of the FBI. Hoover was a low level clerk when he was handed the reins. He didn’t have much of a budget but he did have the willingness to sit and do a lot of research.
When the time came to go after Emma Goldman the government had reams and reams of paper ‘proving’ how dangerous she was.
From now on, the CEOs will travel with security squads, and President Trump will authorize them to shoot to kill anyone who comes in fifty feet of the VIP.
This is more likely to be a one-off, like Gamestop.
It will take just a bit more pressure for people to also walk in squads. There’s plenty of guns to go around.
Let me guess. You’ve never actually been in a gunfight, or been in the ER after a gun fight.
Correct. That doesn’t stop me from being able to use my imagination to see what the material conditions some people face could make them do. I do it by putting myself in these shoes. Consider people who’ve lost loved ones because of one of these fellas. Some might feel they’ve nothing left to lose, entertain suicide, decide to take a bastard or two instead. As conditions get worse, the number of such people will grow. I don’t think people who care about ending up in the ER would be part of this.
I wish I could live in a world where there’s no such thing as ricochets and friendly fire deaths.
Try expanding your imagination to include things like that. Life isn’t a movie or a video game where every bullet only hits the intended victim.
Also, WW1 started because one brave shooter decided to stand up and be counted.
Unintended consequences are a bitch.
All of this makes sense but none of it will change the mind of the person who shot the guy recently or the next one, or the number of such people the system creates. I’m merely pointing out that the system creates these people and they will kill others. The person who killed the CEO recently was already beyond the reasoning you’re suggesting. There’s no point considering these rational reasons when we have proof some folks don’t stop because of them. Instead I think it’s useful to look at what conditions got a person to disregard them. If we want to make a prediction we could observe how those conditions are likely to develop. I think that part is obvious. So I conclude the system will create more such people. If they get numerous enough, I speculate they might start organizing into groups too.
It will take just a bit more pressure for people to also walk in squads. There’s plenty of guns to go around.
Read some history. The Minute Men thought they could stop the British. It didn’t work. The Redcoats were stopped by a British style army and the entire French navy.
Also, you can’t talk about squads and lone gunmen at the same time
`
A bit of a tangent, but Gavrilo Princip wasn’t really the cause of WW1 (and WW2 which was on some level is an extension of WW1).
His actions were the spark and he has gone down in history for his assassination, but in an abstract, analytical sense his actions had nothing at all to do with the beginning of WW1.
I don’t agree.
Individuals and their actions matter.
Look at what this thread is about. We wouldn’t be talking if the shooter hadn’t acted.
The state of healthcare in the US is exactly the same as it was yesterday. But the discussion has changed dramatically
The tensions between the USSR and the West were as bad as the ones pre-WW1. Individual actions kept things from going into all out war.
How is their medical experience relevant?
Will you ever see Tesla Optimus aka Tesla Bot the same way again?
That’s obviously the end goal Musk is going for.
But I’m by no means the first person who realized the only thing the masses have going for us is sheer overwhelming numbers, and the day the wealthy have robot soldiers we’re fucked because by then they won’t need our labor either.
We go from being individually expendable to the entirety of us being expendable.
It’s gonna happen eventually, so we can’t just keep alternating between neoliberals and fascists, regardless of which one is in charge when it happens, we’re all still fucked when the wealthy and powerful don’t need us.
Poor people just need to cobble together EMP weapons if there are robot oppressors. Robots couldn’t be wirelessly controlled or have any wireless antennas without being EMP vulnerable.
That said, very few of those murders were
notpoint blank assassinations in public during the day. That’s sort of a bigger deal.Edit: Me not inglesh gud.
deleted by creator
Oops. I’m an idiot and I need more sleep.
Dude. This event is like a page out of Batman. If you don’t think this is news, I can’t imagine what you think is.
