UnitedHealth’s legal chief moves into new 'government-facing' role, as DOJ probe looms
As the DOJ conducts an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth’s Optum business unit, the health insurer has moved its chief legal officer into a new role overseeing governance, compliance and security.
Amid reports that it faces renewed U.S. Department of Justice antitrust scrutiny, UnitedHealth Group has moved its legal chief into a new, government-facing role.
Rupert Bondy, hired in 2022 as UnitedHealth’s executive vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary, will now serve as senior counsel and executive vice president of governance, compliance and security.
Meanwhile, UnitedHealth has tapped the chief legal officer of its Optum subsidiary, Chris Zaetta, to succeed Bondy as executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary.
The suburban Minneapolis-based company did not provide details on why Bondy was moved to a new role in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
A UnitedHealth spokesman said the company would have nothing further to say about the legal shuffle.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported early this year that the DOJ has launched a new antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth. The report stated federal investigators have been interviewing health care industry executives, including those in physician groups.
The probe reportedly also involves Optum, which provides pharmacy benefit management services, data management and related services to hospital systems.
Related: UnitedHealth is target of DOJ probe for antitrust violations related to its Optum unit
In 2022 UnitedHealth hired away Bondy away from British consumer products company Reckitt Benckiser Health–paying him $11.3 million, including $5.9 million in the form of stock awards and a $2 million signing bonus.
He earned $6.4 million in 2023, according to UnitedHealth’s 2023 proxy statement.
Bondy’s legal roles at energy giant BP, including as group general counsel, where he worked before joining Reckitt in 2017.
Bondy helped BP manage the enormous legal firestorm from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig blowout in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 crew members and was the largest-ever marine oil spill.
Zaetta became Optum’s legal chief in September 2020, leaving Johnson & Johnson as worldwide vice president of litigation.
Before that he worked at UnitedHealth from 2011 to 2019, including as general counsel of the company’s Medicare and Medicaid business and head of litigation.
Among Zaetta’s big legal cases at Optum was a lawsuit by the Justice Department attempting to block UnitedHealth’s $13 billion acquisition of health technology company Change Healthcare.
The DOJ alleged the deal would give UnitedHealth and Optum access to a goldmine of data on competitors’ health plans and thus gaining an unfair advantage. Zaetta tapped Kirkland & Ellis to bolster its resources in the battle.
UnitedHealth executives testified they already had access to competitor data through Optum. The DOJ lost the case in 2022, with a federal judge ruling the department lacked evidence for its antitrust claims.
Earlier in his career Zaetta was a partner at Hogan Lovells and was a trial attorney for the DOJ.
UnitedHealth’s revenues soared 14.6% last year to $371.6 billion, the company reported.
UnitedHealth has become a larger target for regulators, particularly given President Joe Biden’s executive orders prodding regulators to put more scrutiny on hospital and health insurance consolidations.
Critics say such deals diminish competition and drive-up prices for consumers.