Three weeks after Copa Health claimed its former CEO “abused her position and Copa’s corporate credit card to fund a lavish personal lifestyle,” Scottsdale Dr. Shar Najafi-Piper filed an aggressive response.
Najafi-Piper’s lawyers claim the suit is “full of provably false accusations” and was “driven by the animus and callous disregard displayed by (Copa’s) current board chairman and now-new CEO (David Day).”
On March 23, the Mesa-based Copa Health filed a suit against Najafi-Piper, her husband Brian Piper and Roya Health – which Najafi-Piper started while serving as Copa’s head.
Copa fired Najafi-Piper in January.
In stark contrast to the Copa suit’s portrait of a lackadaisical leader who siphoned her time and the company’s resources to her new Roya Health, the response states “Dr. Sharareh Najafi-Piper served successfully and faithfully as CEO of Copa Health, Inc. for six-plus years.
“Throughout that period, Dr. Najafi-Piper led Copa to excellent growth and results while inspiring female and minority leadership in the healthcare space.”
According to Gabriel Aragon, an attorney with Coppersmith Brockelman, Copa “repeatedly raised and rewarded her for her performance.”
The response claims “Copa’s true motive was to publicly smear Dr. Najafi-Piper.”
“Copa’s claims are baseless and were brought for an improper purpose, realities Dr. Najafi-Piper looks forward to proving in the appropriate forum,” Aragon wrote to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Julian.
The attorney attached a copy of Najafi-Piper’s contract, with an arbitration clause stating she and Copa “waive the right to resolve any such dispute through a trial by jury or judge or administrative proceeding.”
Another attachment shows a 2025 text exchange, in which the current Copa CEO Day states, “you are a remarkable friend and CEO. It is a pleasure to serve as your board chairman.”
Another 2025 Day text calls Najafi-Piper “the best thing to ever happen to Copa. I’m a big fan!”
Claiming Copa “wrongfully” filed the lawsuit, Aragon demands “Copa should be ordered to reimburse Dr. Najafi-Piper for her attorneys’ fees and costs incurred.”
Background
Najafi-Piper co-founded Roya – the Farsi word for dream – as an “integrated behavioral health company serving children, families, and underserved communities across Arizona,” according to Roya’s website.
Copa Health says it was a scheme, not a dream – and that its former chief executive officer overserved herself.
According to the lawsuit, the former Copa CEO “abused her position and Copa’s corporate credit card to fund a lavish personal lifestyle.”
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.”
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.”
Copa charges
The suit claims “Najafi-Piper betrayed the trust placed in her by Copa’s Board of Directors 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.”