According to Roya Health’s website, Dr. Shar Najafi-Piper built the Mesa-based healthcare provider “because she has seen what happens when kids don’t get help early enough.”
The Scottsdale woman co-founded the “integrated behavioral health company serving children, families, and underserved communities across Arizona.”
Roya is the Farsi word for “dream.”
But another Mesa healthcare provider, Copa Health, says it was not a dream – but a scheme by Copa’s former chief executive officer.
On March 23, Copa Health filed a suit against Najafi-Piper, her husband Brian Piper and Roya Health.
According to the lawsuit, the former Copa CEO “abused her position and Copa’s corporate credit card to fund a lavish personal lifestyle.”
No criminal charges have been filed.
The Progress reached out to Najafi-Piper for comment on the allegations of wrongdoing in the lawsuit. She has not replied.
According to its website, Copa Health charges a sliding fee “designed to make behavioral health and primary care services accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial situation or insurance status.”
Copa Health, which states it serves people with developmental disabilities and serious mental illness, filed the Maricopa County Superior Court lawsuit March 23 and amended it April 6.
Najafi-Piper and Roya Health have until April 16 to respond to it or risk a default judgment. A preliminary hearing was also scheduled for April 16 “for the purpose of discussing this dispute.”
“Najafi-Piper betrayed the trust placed in her by Copa’s Board of Directors,” the Copa suit alleges, “and the vulnerable populations Copa serves by orchestrating a years-long scheme to systematically plunder Copa’s resources to fund Roya Health and her lavish lifestyle.”
The Mesa nonprofit paints a picture of Najafi-Piper “charging hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, in personal expenses to Copa between 2021 and 2025, including luxury vacations, premium sports tickets, like the Super Bowl, designer goods, personal security details, limousine services, charitable donations to her children’s school …”
Copa also accuses Najafi-Piper of double dipping and corporate backstabbing:
“While serving as Copa’s CEO, Najafi-Piper co-founded Roya
Health, which in Arizona offers the same or similar services to those Copa offers to the same or similar client base and vie for the same or similar limited pool of donor and grant money as Copa.
“Najafi-Piper and Roya Health then systematically pillaged Copa’s confidential business information, trade secrets, proprietary forms, policies, and procedures, and employee expertise to build Roya at Copa’s expense and detriment.”
The amended suit claims “Najafi-Piper’s scheme involved multiple interconnected components.” She allegedly also started Roya Holdings, “an Arizona limited liability company, at the same address as Roya Health’s Mesa, Arizona location.”
Biting the hand of the company feeding her big paychecks, the suit claims, she “pillaged Copa’s confidential business information, trade secrets, proprietary forms, policies, and procedures, and employee expertise.’
Before the Copa board fired her three months ago, Najafi-Piper deceived Copa for upwards of five years, according to the filing.
“Najafi-Piper used a combination of misrepresentations, fraud, and ‘consulting’ fees to keep her practices concealed from Copa’s Board of Directors,” according to the lawsuit.
“When the board learned Najafi-Piper had been using Copa’s resources – resources that should have been devoted to Copa’s mission of serving vulnerable populations – to fund her lifestyle and had formed a competing business, Copa’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to terminate her employment.”
Copa says it hired Najafi-Piper as CEO in 2019, compensating her around $700,000 per year – plus a $20,000 car allowance.
In September 2022, Najafi-Piper started Roya Health, which the suit alleges is a “direct competitor” of Copa.
She told board members and Copa staff that Roya Health had a “partnership” or “joint venture” with Copa, according to the lawsuit.
And, “During the period when Najafi-Piper was building Roya Health, she typically showed up at Copa’s offices in Mesa once per week.”
Meanwhile, the suit claims, Najafi-Piper ordered $374,725 in Arizona Cardinals football tickets on Copa’s tab:
“While the stated purpose was ‘staff benefit/team building,’ Najafi-Piper, her family, and their personal guests were the primary beneficiaries of these premium sporting events. Copa’s Board did not authorize or approve these expenditures.”
She allegedly spent another $250,000 on dues, dinners, travel, and events for the Young Presidents’ Organization – and “more than $200,000 on airfare and hotels.
“These travels included stays for herself and her family at resorts around the world, such as: Le Royal Monceaux, Paris, France; the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff, Canada; the Velas Resorts in Mexico; the
Sheraton in Hawaii; and Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.”
Scottsdale mansion
Court documents show Najafi-Piper lives on East Onyx Court, near East Via Linda and Shea Boulevard.
According to Zillow, her four-bedroom home is valued at $2.3 million – more than double what she paid for it in 2018.
Her Roya bio describes Najafi-Piper as “a licensed psychologist by training and a child advocate by conviction, she has spent more than 25 years building systems of care for the people most likely to fall through the cracks of the traditional healthcare system.”
According to her online biography, “Najafi-Piper holds a doctorate in psychology from Harold Abel School of Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Arizona State University. She has been in behavioral health leadership since 2008, with deep expertise in integrated care models, Medicaid managed care, contract development, and building organizations that serve complex-needs populations.
“Prior to founding Roya Health, she held a variety of senior leadership roles … acting as the president for Complex Care at Equality Health and the vice president for Outpatient Services at Southwest Behavioral.”