UnitedHealth Stock Options Scrutinized
UnitedHealth Group officials on Wednesday announced that the company has received a subpoena from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as well as a request from the Internal Revenue Service, related to stock options issued to top officials, Reuters/New York Times reports (Reuters/New York Times, 5/18). The subpoena requests documents related to stock options and other compensation from 1999 to the present, and the IRS request seeks documents from 2003 to the present (Bandler et al., Wall Street Journal, 5/18).
UnitedHealth on May 11 disclosed that a "significant deficiency" in company practices used to administer and account for stock options issued to top officials could require the restatement of financial results for at least three years. In addition, UnitedHealth officials said that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an informal inquiry into whether the company issued backdated stock options (California Healthline, 5/15).
UnitedHealth officials said that the company will fully cooperate with the subpoena and the IRS request (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 5/18).