Celia Nipper Gets 51 Months for $2M Embezzlement Scheme

OAKLAND — Celia Nipper, 62, of Discovery Bay, Calif., is headed to federal prison for 51 months after admitting to a brazen embezzlement scheme that bled more than $2 million from a real estate technology company. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr., caps a years-long fraud that exploited her role as office manager to redirect company funds into accounts she secretly controlled.

Nipper, also known as Celia Arrand, pleaded guilty on September 18, 2017, to three counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and two counts of filing false tax returns. According to her plea agreement, from 2005 to 2011, she used her authority over accounts payable, invoicing, and bill payments to siphon customer payments into phantom company bank accounts she opened without authorization. She then funneled the stolen funds into her personal accounts, using them for her own benefit.

The scheme didn’t stop at outright theft. Nipper falsified records to cover her tracks, misappropriating money from legitimate corporate accounts and using company funds to pay for personal expenses. She also inflated her income on two mortgage applications in June 2008, lying to lenders to secure better loan terms while simultaneously hiding the true source of her wealth.

Even the IRS wasn’t spared. Nipper admitted to filing false tax returns for 2009, 2010, and 2011, deliberately underreporting more than $1 million in income and cheating the U.S. out of at least $290,000 in taxes. The financial deception painted a picture of a defendant who treated her employer’s coffers as a personal piggy bank while actively misleading federal agencies.

A federal grand jury first indicted Nipper on April 7, 2016, charging her with three counts of wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, two counts of bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1344(2), and three counts of filing a false tax return under 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). She ultimately pleaded guilty to all but one tax charge. In addition to prison, Judge Gilliam imposed a forfeiture money judgment of $2,029,068 and scheduled a restitution hearing for April 30, 2018.

Nipper, currently free on bond, has been ordered to self-surrender by April 30, 2018. She will serve 36 months of supervised release after her prison term, during which she is barred from holding any fiduciary position without prior court approval. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Green, with assistance from Noble Hughes and Katie Turner, following an investigation by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.