Plymouth Man Indicted for Embezzling More than One Million Dollars

MINNEAPOLIS – Christopher Erik Septon, age 52, of Plymouth, Minnesota, was indicted on charges relating to his embezzlement of more than $1 million from his former employer, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.

“Fraudsters never stop inventing new ways to steal, and Septon’s crime—posing as government agencies in his scheme to embezzle more than a million dollars—was no exception,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “The fraudsters of Minnesota should understand this:  no matter how clever the con, we are coming for you, and you will face federal justice.”

According to the indictment, Septon worked for Ellis Properties, a family-run commercial real estate business located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Septon worked for the company from 2010 until 2024, when his embezzlement was discovered.

Septon and was trusted with authority to use company funds to pay vendors, contractors, and other third parties.  Septon abused his position of trust to embezzle from the company. He improperly charged more than $800,000 on the company credit card, directing the payments to his own payment-processing accounts. He hid the fact that these payments were to his own accounts by writing false statements in the transaction memo lines, misrepresenting that the transactions were business-related and with third parties, when, in fact, they were transfers to Septon.

Septon also fraudulently obtained “reimbursement” checks from the company for business expenses he claimed he had paid personally, when, in fact, he had not.  He used fake invoices, fake emails, and other lies to induce company personnel to issue the unwarranted reimbursement checks.

As part of the scheme, Septon also impersonated government agencies.  Without their knowledge, Septon used the names of the City of Minneapolis, the Metropolitan Council, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to fraudulently obtain money from Ellis Properties, falsely claiming Ellis Properties owed certain payments to those agencies and instead directing the funds to himself.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from the fraud were transferred from account to account, then retained by Septon.  In total, Septon embezzled more than $1 million from Ellis Properties.

Septon made his initial appearance yesterday.  He is charged with four counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Minneapolis Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew D. Forbes is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.