Two men charged with embezzling from Amgen

Criminal charges were filed against Jason Rimmer, 37, of San Mateo and Robert Troy Nipar, 43, of Simi Valley for embezzling more than $300,000 in a fraudulent billing scheme involving Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks.

Rimmer, a former event planner with Amgen, allegedly provided Nipar with information to set up merchant accounts with American Express for fictitious businesses whose names were strikingly similar to Amgen's legitimate vendors.

Nipar then reportedly charged Amgen's American Express account for nonexistent services and forwarded false invoices to Rimmer, who approved them for payment. Funds for payment on the bogus invoices were deposited directly into Nipar's bank account.

Both men are free on bond.