The U.S. Department of Justice announced Feb. 18 that a California man was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The verdict followed a six-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Kate M. Menendez in Minneapolis.
According to court documents, Karan Gupta, age 47, was a senior director of data analytics at Optum Inc., a Minnesota-based subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. He earned more than $260,000 annually at the peak of his tenure.
In 2015, Gupta hired a lifelong friend for a managerial data engineering role at Optum despite the friend being unqualified.
Gupta provided his friend with a falsified resume, which the friend used to secure the job. He later became his supervisor.
For nearly four years, the friend performed no work while collecting a salary that started above $100,000 and rose with annual raises and bonuses. The friend met no one at Optum, sent almost no emails, and often went weeks without logging into his work computer.
At Gupta’s direction, his friend paid him more than half of the unearned salary in kickbacks. They devised a plan to conceal the kickbacks.
Initially, the friend withdrew the kickbacks in cash from his New Jersey bank, then deposited the money at a New Jersey branch of Gupta’s bank so Gupta could access it in California.
Later, the friend opened a new checking account for Optum direct deposits and sent Gupta the debit card, which Gupta used to withdraw the fraud proceeds from ATMs in California.
Fraud totaled more than $1.2 million
The scheme came to light after Optum fired Gupta in November 2019 for a separate fraud. The company investigated and referred the case to federal authorities.
Gupta’s frauds against Optum totaled more than $1.2 million.
Rick Evanchec, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office, said Gupta abused his role as a senior director to hire a ghost employee and collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks.
“The FBI is committed to holding those in positions of power accountable, particularly when the cost of their actions are ultimately passed along to hardworking Americans,” Evanchec said.
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