From a lawsuit filed by a group of shareholders against UnitedHealthcare over how they handled the aftermath of CEO Brian Thompson’s assassination after Luigi Mangione got famous: “On January 16, 2025, following Mr Thompson’s murder, the Company announced that it would maintain its previously issued guidance. In a press release titled ‘UnitedHealth Group Reports 2024 Results,’ the Company reaffirmed the guidance issued on December 3, 2024, stating: ‘UnitedHealth Group affirmed the 2025 performance outlook established in December 2024, including revenues of $450 billion to $455 billion, net earnings of $28.15 to $28.65 per share, adjusted net earnings of $29.50 to $30.00 per share, and cash flow from operations of $32 billion to $33 billion.'”
“The statement was materially false and misleading when made because it failed to disclose that the Company, due to heightened scrutiny and public hostility, was no longer willing to use the aggressive, anti-consumer tactics necessary to achieve earnings per share of $28.15 to $28.65, or adjusted net earnings per share of $29.50 to $30.00. As a result, the Company acted with deliberate recklessness in reiterating its prior guidance,” emphasis added because yeah, they actually fucking wrote that in a federal civil complaint, filed this week in the Southern District of New York, per NBC.
Who exactly “they” are isn’t clear yet. The only text of a complaint matching that exact phrasing comes from what’s apparently a draft of the complaint hosted on the site of the Manhattan-based Rosen Law Firm, PA, which at the top says “IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,” with the plaintiff listed as “[Blank line], Individually and On Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated” v United Healthcare et al, which could indicate that this complaint was Rosen’s idea and they just need injured parties to sign up as a class. That they didn’t have the right venue in the first place might also be a sign that Team Rosen were indeed working backwards here.
NBC’s article has no further details on who if anyone actually signed on, because holy fucking shit who would want to put their name on that? It’s like a goddamned ouroboros of madness that the greed begat the murder which begat the greed and yet here it is. Someone actually fucking wrote that in a lawsuit demanding that the machine continue to hum mercilessly without interruption.