It doesn’t seem like a gratuitous swipe to me. When a person already slightly publicly known does something unrelated, it’s not uncalled-for to note that when describing them for the first time in the article. If it were Bill Gates, it would probably be “Microsoft founder Bill Gates convicted of murder”...or maybe not; in his case he’s SO well known that no explanation might be thought necessary.
“it would probably be “Microsoft founder Bill Gates convicted of murder”...or maybe not;....”
Maybe it would be: “District Attorney fired for charging Bill Gates with murder”.