They say you only get a single chance at making a first impression – and Dr Sharareh Najafi-Piper undoubtedly created a fabulous one wherever she went.

Charismatic, wealthy and with a husband as handsome as she is beautiful, the 48-year-old worked her way up to become the $700,000-a-year CEO of Arizona health nonprofit Copa.

The Iranian-American’s success afforded her a $2.2 million mansion in a Phoenix gated community, tasteful designer clothes and wrists groaning with 18-karat gold and diamond jewels, including two Cartier Love bracelets worth $13,000.

She was named one of Arizona’s most influential women and appeared destined to rise to even greater heights of success and recognition.

But all that came to a sudden and shocking halt in January, when Copa fired Najafi-Piper.

Bosses there also sued her and her sales executive husband Brian Piper, 41, alleging eye-watering expense claims for luxury travel and events tickets.

The mother-of-two and her spouse have filed a furious response to the lawsuit denying all claims made about them.

But now the Daily Mail has uncovered two jaw-dropping past scandals involving Najafi-Piper.

Dr. Sharareh Najafi-Piper (pictured in 2022) has been sued by the healthcare nonprofit she once ran over her expenses. The Daily Mail can now reveal her past convictions for shoplifting and stealing a credit card to pay for breast implants

Najafi-Piper and her sales executive husband Brian Piper. He has also been named as a defendant in the civil suit filed by his wife’s former employer Copa Health, but the couple deny all allegations made against them

She will find these incidents rather more difficult to refute.

That is because Najafi-Piper is a convicted thief who shoplifted $7,000 of clothing, then used a stranger’s American Express credit card to pay for a $3,600 breast implant surgery just weeks later.

The crimes took place in July and August 1999, when Najafi-Piper was just 21. Their sheer brazenness was breathtaking.

Najafi-Piper’s shoplifting incident saw her steal $7,000 of clothing (equivalent to around $14,000 in 2026 prices) from an unidentified Arizona department store.

After being caught, Najafi-Piper ‘lied to police officers, telling them that her stealing was an ASU (Arizona State University) school project,’ according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail.

No further explanation for that ‘project’ was shared, but Najafi-Piper invented fake names for her supposed professors and told police to contact them for verification, the court records said.

A month later in August 1999, Najafi-Piper pulled off the breast implant scam after finding a payment receipt from an American Express credit card belonging to a man called Todd Ziplow, other court files show.

She decided to treat herself to a trip to The Body School and Sculpting Center in her hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona.

Najafi-Piper and her husband live in this stunning mansion in a gated community in Phoenix with their two young sons

The Najafi-Piper family in a stunning photo uploaded to social media. They deny inappropriate use of Sharareh’s expense account to fund exotic travel, concert tickets and trips to flagship sports events

A pre-sentence investigation obtained by the Daily Mail shows that Najafi-Piper was asked by staff at the clinic why she only had the card details and not the physical Amex itself.

‘She had a letter stating she had permission to use the card,’ the report explained.

The cosmetic surgery went ahead, with $3,600 (around $7,200 in 2026 prices) charged to Ziplow’s Amex, court records say.

Najafi-Piper’s scheme came crashing down when Ziplow spotted the fraudulent charge and flagged it to American Express.

Attempts by Najafi-Piper to cover her tracks by giving a fake name – Shar Nagiri – were unsuccessful and she was arrested, according to the court files.

Further jaw-dropping drama was to ensue.

Najafi-Piper admitted to the fraud and said ‘she was pressured somewhat by her boyfriend to have the surgery done,’ court records say.

She complained to investigators that she was in a phase of her life ‘where she felt she had to fit a certain image’, according to the pre-sentence investigation.

Sharareh Najafi-Piper, who earned $700,000 in her role as CEO of Copa Health, is seen cradling one of her two sons while wearing two Cartier Love bracelets worth $13,000 and other expensive jewelry

Najafi-Piper, clad in fur, is seen enjoying a luxirous winter break with her husband Brian and the couple’s two young sons

The glamorous thief also claimed to have repaid The Body School and Sculpting Center the cash she owed them.

A worker at the clinic told investigators that Najafi-Piper had to be repeatedly cajoled into doing so and did not appear to be remorseful for her crime.

The author of Najafi-Piper’s pre-sentence report took a dim view of her lawbreaking antics and called on Maricopa County Court to jail her.

‘Defendant appears to be a pathological liar and knows how to manipulate the system,’ they wrote.

Najafi-Piper was able to strike a plea deal that saw both felonies downgraded to misdemeanors, according to court records.

She was handed two years probation in college and completed it while studying for her bachelor’s degree in psychology.

In the ensuing years, she rebuilt her life in spectacular style.

After graduating from ASU in 2001, she began a long stint at Southwest Behavioral & Health Services, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that treats mental health conditions.

Najafeh-Piper is seen hard at work in her former role as an executive at Copa Health in Phoenix

By the time Najafi-Piper left in 2017, she had risen to the role of vice president for outpatient services and earned a doctorate in psychology.

She spent two years working at Medicaid provider Equality Health and rose to the role of president of its care centers by the time she resigned in 2019.

Najafi-Piper then reached the pinnacle of her career, bagging the CEO job at Copa Health in June 2019, a role she held until her firing in January 2026.

Najafi-Piper appeared to be one of those rare women able to have it all, with social media photos suggesting a contented family life with her husband Brian and the couple’s two adorable sons.

Clearly mindful of her past scandal, Najafi-Piper quietly approached Maricopa County Court to set aside her convictions in 2024. Her application was granted, court records show.

She wrote to the court: ‘The charge was over 20 years ago and during a time which was challenging.

‘I’m a licensed psychologist who gives back to the community…and have learned from my past and continue to be a good citizen.’

Many others clearly agreed with Najafi-Piper’s self-assessment.

Sharareh Najafi-Piper and her husband Brian. The couple enjoy an enviable lifestyle and say the allegations made against them by Copa Health are baseless

In 2022, she was named one of Arizona’s Most Influential Women by AZ Business magazine and gave a short interview where she described herself as ‘humble.’

Bosses at her then employer, Copa Health, have since alleged that Najafi-Piper’s expense claims were anything but.

Their lawsuit claimed she spent $374,725 alone on tickets to watch the Arizona Cardinals, which was expensed as ‘staff benefit/team building’.

Najafi-Piper allegedly splurged $57,000 on Super Bowl tickets and $40,000 for Fiesta Bowl tickets, the civil filing said.

Copa cash was inappropriately spent by her on concert tickets for artists including Justin Timberlake, The Weeknd and Lady Gaga, according to the filing.

Najafi-Piper spent inappropriately on travel, including spending $200,000 on air fares and hotel stays during trips to France, Canada, Mexico and Hawaii, the filings say.

Closer to home, she used the Copa card to stay at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New Orleans and the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, it is alleged.

A further $100,000 was spent on a private security detail, with Copa cash also lavished on her son’s birthday, glasses and shoes.

Copa’s suit further accuses Najafi-Piper of building a competitor nonprofit called Roya Health using privileged information and accused her of being an absent boss.

Lawyers for Copa have asked for damages to be decided by a jury trial and for an injunction to stop Najafi-Piper from using their information to benefit Roya.

Najafi-Piper has come out fighting, with her lawyers suggesting that Copa’s suit was ‘full of false allegations.’

Their response added: ‘Najafi-Piper served successfully and faithfully as CEO of Copa Health, Inc. for six-plus years.

Najafeh-Piper accepts an award on behalf of her former employer in 2023. She is further accused of setting up a rival nonprofit using propriety information but denies that allegation too

‘Throughout that period, Dr. Najafi-Piper led Copa to excellent growth and results while inspiring female and minority leadership in the healthcare space.’

The response added that Copa’s motive was to ‘smear’ Najafi-Piper and that ‘the claims are baseless’.

The Daily Mail has contacted Najafi-Piper and her lawyer for further comment.

In the meantime, the denizens of Arizona’s high society are keeping a close eye on proceedings.

And given Najafi-Piper’s incredible capacity for reinvention, it appears that if anyone can rebuild their life after such a scandal – she can.

In the ensuing years, Najafi-Piper achieved great success after qualifying as a psychologist

She also said she opted to use the name ‘Shar Nagiri’ on all the documents relating to the augmentation.

The documents added that Najafi-Piper told investigators she was pressured into it at the time by her boyfriend and ‘felt she had to fit a certain image’.

She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge and was handed two years probation in 2000, which she completed while attending college, court papers said.

Najafi-Piper pleaded with the courts to let her off with probation, saying at her sentencing that she had already paid the surgeon the amount in full.

A worker from the surgeon’s practice however said that she only paid them back after they called the police, adding that they didn’t believe Najafi-Piper to be remorseful.

It also emerged that she had a prior misdemeanor charge for shoplifting over $7,000 worth of items from a department store the month before the surgery.

Prosecutors said that as well as stealing the goods she lied to officers and told them she was stealing as part of a project at Arizona State University.

She gave officers fake names of professors and told them to check in with them, with prosecutors branding her ‘a pathological liar’ who ‘manipulates the system’.

SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15853207/copa-health-ceo-shararah-najafi-piper-scandal.html