Stephen J. Hemsley (born 4 June 1952)[1][2] is an American businessman who is the chair of the board and former chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group Inc.
In August 2017, UnitedHealth announced that Hemsley would be stepping down after more than a decade as CEO and starting a newly created role of executive chairman of the board.
[3] A lawsuit was filed against Hemsley, then UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and two other senior executives in May 2024 for alleged fraud and insider trading due to failing to disclose an antitrust investigation into the company by the United States Department of Justice and by selling stock options before the probe was made public.
He was more involved in the handling of backdated stock options than previously revealed, according to documents filed in a 2008 shareholder lawsuit in a Minneapolis District Court.
However, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) continued its investigations even after it in 2008 settled legal actions against both United Health Care itself and its former general counsel.