William McGuire, former CEO of United Health, agreed to give back about $620 million to resolve a government investigation into whether or not he illegally backdated millions of stock options. Sure, this is a hefty sum, but the blow is softened when considering McGuire still floated home with a billion dollar golden parachute, even after an internal investigation decided he was probably guilty.
The money will be returned to United Health shareholders, who have so far recovered $900 million from former and current executives related to illegal backdating. The deal will have to be approved by a federal and a state judge before it’s completely finalized.
“I am very pleased to have reached a resolution that puts these matters to rest,” McGuire said in an official statement.
But, things aren’t quite over. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is spearheading a shareholder lawsuit requesting that he lose access to his remaining 24 million shares, estimated to be worth about $800 million. The result of that case is expected sometime this week.


