An Indian-origin man has been convicted in the US for defrauding his employer of $1.2 million by hiring his “lifelong friend”. According to a release by US Department of Justice, Karan Gupta has been charged with fraud and money laundering conspiracy for hiring the unqualified friend for Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, where he worked as senior director of data analytics.

A press release by US Attorney Office, District of Minnesota, said that Gupta “gave the friend a false resume, which the friend used to secure the position”.

“Gupta became his friend’s supervisor. Then, for almost four years, the friend did no work at all for Optum, all while collecting a salary that began above $100,000 and increased with raises and bonuses each year. The friend met no one else at Optum, sent almost no emails, and regularly did not log into his Optum computer for weeks on end,” the release further said.

The appointment was made in 2015.

“At Optum, Gupta earned an annual salary of more than $260,000 at the height of his career,” the document said.

US authorities have also said that the friend gave Gupta more than half of his salary as kickbacks.

Explaining the modus operandi, the Attorney’s office said that the friend lived in New Jersey and initially used to withdraw the kickback payments from his bank account in cash then deposit the cash in a New Jersey branch for Gupta’s bank, so that Gupta could access the funds in California.