MINNEAPOLIS – United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen announced today that Karan Gupta, age 47, was found guilty yesterday of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, ten counts of wire fraud, and one count of money laundering conspiracy, following a six-day jury trial in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis before U.S. District Court Judge Kate M. Menendez.
According to court documents and evidence introduced at trial, Gupta was a senior director of data analytics at Optum, Inc., a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group headquartered in Minnesota. At Optum, Gupta earned an annual salary of more than $260,000 at the height of his career.
In 2015, Gupta recruited and approved the hiring of a lifelong friend to work at Optum in a managerial data engineering position for which the friend was unqualified. Gupta gave the friend a false resume, which the friend used to secure the position. …
Investment fraud targets the human desire for financial growth by promising high returns with “low to no risk.”
- Ponzi Schemes: Named after Charles Ponzi, these schemes pay “returns” to earlier investors using the capital brought in by newer investors. There is no actual underlying business; the system collapses when new recruitment slows down.
- Pyramid Schemes: Similar to Ponzi schemes, but participants are usually required to sell a product or service. The primary “profit” comes from the recruitment fees of new members rather than actual product sales.
- Pump and Dump: Fraudsters spread false, positive rumors about a cheap stock (the “pump”) to drive up the price. Once the price peaks, they sell their shares (the “dump”), leaving other investors with worthless stock.