An employee of a real estate management company has been arrested after allegedly siphoning off more than $1 million from bank accounts belonging to her company, Manhattan’s district attorney, Robert Morgenthau, announced yesterday.

Ellen Hauer, a 30-year tenured employee of Hampton Management Company, used company money to write checks to the tune of $1.1 million that paid for luxury goods and fancy dinners, Mr. Morgenthau said in a statement. She was arrested on Tuesday, he said. As the controller of the company, Mrs. Hauer, 52, used her authority to write checks of up to $10,000 to pay off credit cards she had obtained for herself, her husband, and her two children, officials said. The checks were drawn from accounts belonging to two buildings managed by the company. The stolen funds paid off credit cards that were used to purchase airline tickets, trips on cruises, and lingerie and clothing from stores such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, and Neiman Marcus, officials said.

Hampton Management caught on to the scam, which began in January 2001, after conducting an internal review of its business, officials said.

Mrs. Hauer was arraigned late Tuesday night on one charge of grand larceny. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison.