UnitedHealth Securities Fraud Class Action Moves Ahead

Representing lead plaintiff California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP won a significant victory for investors when the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota granted in part and denied in part defendants’ motion to dismiss a securities fraud class action. The case alleges that UnitedHealth, its former CEO Andrew Witty, and former Chairman of the Board and CEO Stephen Hemsley misled investors using roughly $3.3 billion in “portfolio refinement” transactions to shore up UnitedHealth’s reported earnings.

In the order denying the motion to dismiss, United States District Court Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan wrote:

The allegations, if true, establish a sufficient mental state: the Company’s then-CFO and [former CEO Andrew] Witty had knowledge that the statements made about the nature of the portfolio refinement transactions were not complete or accurate, and that they did so to avoid missing earning targets for the first time in fifteen years as well as to avoid explaining why that occurred.

Shortly before the end of 2024, UnitedHealth’s earnings were allegedly weakened by stricter payment policies under the Medicare Advantage program. To obscure this earnings hit, UnitedHealth allegedly sold stakes in some of its business units to private equity firms with deal terms that could force UnitedHealth to buy back those stakes at a higher price shortly afterward. UnitedHealth allegedly insisted that these deals not be publicized. The court upheld core claims of the case related to these transactions, emphasizing that the allegations describe how UnitedHealth “concealed the nature of the portfolio refinement transactions.”

Robbins Geller attorneys Darren Robbins, Sam S. Sheldon, Robert R. Henssler Jr., Matthew I. Alpert, Jeffrey J. Stein, and Jack Abbey Gephart represent CalPERS.

California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. UnitedHealth Group Inc., 2026 WL 2935320 (D. Minn. Sep. 30, 2026).