UnitedHealth CEO role in options row questioned: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers in a class action suit against UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N) say freshly unsealed documents show current CEO Stephen Hemsley was more involved in granting backdated options than previously thought, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Freshly unsealed documents include snippets of internal memos and emails amassed by attorneys for Calpers, the biggest US public pension fund and leader of the suit against UnitedHealth, the paper reported.

The unredacted documents were filed Tuesday night after a judge granted a motion to have the information unsealed, it said.

Though the lawyers argue that partial references and other evidence they obtained suggest Hemsley played a bigger role in backdating options than previously concluded, the Journal said outside the context of the full documents the excerpts were inconclusive.

UnitedHealth dismissed the allegations and the characterization of Hemsley, pointing out that two independent reviews commissioned by the company had determined he played no real role in backdating option grants, the paper said.

Former CEO William McGuire settled over claims regarding options practices with securities regulators and the company in December last year, agreeing to forfeit more than $400 million in stock options and other compensation and pay a $7 million fine.

(Reporting by Christopher Kaufman; editing by Rory Channing)