Indian-origin techie involved in $1.2 million fraud in US; hires friend for ghost job, gets half the friend's salary as kickback
Zee News
An Indian origin techie has been accused of taking kickback from his friend's salary, who was hired by the former for a ghost job in US company.
Indian-origin man Karan Gupta has been found guilty of several charges, including fraud and money laundering conspiracy, for hiring an unqualified friend for a job in which the friend did no work and gave Gupta half of his unearned salary as kickbacks. Gupta's fraud totalled over $1.2 million (approx Rs 10.91 crore).
An X post from the FBI Minneapolis reads that the 47 year old Karan Gupta, a senior director at Optum, a subsidiary of United Health Group, was found guilty after a six-day trial on multiple counts, including fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Gupta hired an unqualified friend for a position where the friend did not do any work and paid half his unearned salary in kickbacks to Gupta, whose fraud totaled more than $1.2 million.
Karan Gupta, age 47, a Senior Director at Optum, a subsidiary of United Health Group, was found guilty after a six day trial on multiple counts, including fraud and money laundering conspiracy, for hiring an unqualified friend for a position where the friend did no work and paid… pic.twitter.com/cgIWXGXvhK — FBI Minneapolis (@FBIMinneapolis) February 18, 2026
Richard Evanchec of the FBI’s Minneapolis Office said, Mr Gupta abused his position of trust as the Senior Director of a subsidiary of the largest healthcare provider in the United States to defraud his company by hiring a ghost employee for a fictitious position. He did this so that he could collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks over many years. The FBI is committed to holding those in positions of power accountable, particularly when the cost of their actions is ultimately passed along to hard-working Americans.
According to a press release by the US Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota, Gupta recruited a lifelong friend to a managerial data engineering position at Optum in 2015. The friend was unqualified for the post. Gupta even gave the friend a false resume which the friend used to secure the position. Gupta became his friend’s supervisor.
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