Florida woman charged with threatening health insurance company with ‘delay, deny, depose’

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This article was published 13/12/2024 (398 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman has been charged with threatening her health insurance provider during a phone conversation after police say she uttered the same words found on the bullet casings used in the killing of an insurance executive in New York.

Briana Boston, 42, told a representative of Blue Cross Blue Shield, “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next” as they ended a phone call Tuesday in which she unsuccessfully challenged the company’s denial of her insurance claim, Lakeland police say a recording shows.

The words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the casings left at the scene of the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City street on Dec. 4. The words reflect the “delay, deny, defend” strategy some insurance companies use in dealing with expensive claims: Delay the decision, deny the claim and aggressively defend themselves.

Luigi Mangione, 26, is charged with murder in Thompson’s killing.

According to police, when Boston was questioned by officers Wednesday, she told them she used the words because “it is what is in the news right now.” She told officers she owns no guns and is accused of adding that insurance companies “are evil” and “deserve karma.”

Boston was arrested and charged with threatening to conduct an act of terrorism. She was being held without bail Friday at the Polk County jail. Court records do not show whether she has an attorney, and a phone listing at her home address was disconnected.

The charge is a second-degree felony, which could be punished by up to 15 years in prison if she is convicted.