True Crime News Presents: American Hustlers

The twist is revealed - secret recordings Danny and Kaushal made in the courtroom which incriminate the judge who is heard making stunning pro-prosecution and anti-gay remarks. The revelation wins Danny and Kaushal new trials – and new trials for Miguel Bustamante and David Replogle too. Tyson finds himself faced with the possibility that the men he helped take down may go free. And to make matters worse, when Kim visits Craig McCarthy in jail – who confessed to helping Miguel stab Cliff and was one of the prosecution’s strongest witnesses – he denies that he had any part in the murder. If he recants on the record, what will that do to the case? But just before the trials begin there is one last surprise - bones are discovered in the desert. Parts of Cliff Lambert’s body. This should be the nail in the proverbial coffin, but with these guys, you really never know. As Julie and Kim look back on the story of the Dark Prince and his cabal of thieves it is remarkable how much these con artists were able to steal, how long their trail of victims is, and how little the criminal justice establishment cared about bringing them to justice before they turned murderous. Are Danny and Kaushal only outliers? Or are they symptoms of the times we live in: the era of the big con, of the willingness to only believe what we want to believe - and ignore the warning signs… until it's too late. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the end, despite the courtroom dramatics, Kaushal, Danny, and their accomplices are all found guilty of Cliff Lambert’s murder. Kaushal and Danny - along with Miguel Bustamante and Danny and Kaushal’s regular comrade David Replogle - are all sentenced to life without parole. For Cliff’s friends, for the other victims of their cons, and for Tyson Wrensch, this verdict should finally provide the closure they’ve been after for years. Justice served, roll credits. But with these guys there is always a twist. Something hidden at trial comes to light, and suddenly the conviction is thrown into doubt. Danny and Kaushal have never been arrested for or even charged for anything other than the murder - if the conviction is overturned their pantheon of crimes will go entirely unpunished. Tyson Wrensch has spent years following Danny and Kaushal - tracking them, spending his time and money, in an attempt to bring them to justice. Will it all have been in vain? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once Detective Min of the PSPD ties Miguel Bustamante to Kaushal Niroula and Danny Garcia, he’s able to begin connecting the dots. And there are a lot of dots. But what they don’t have is a body. And like they say, “no body, no crime.” With the clock ticking and a very real chance that Kaushal and Danny will disappear if they get wind of Bustamante’s arrest, detectives get the OK to make the arrests anyway. It’s not easy, but eventually they manage to track down and arrest everyone - 6 in total. The case goes to trial with Danny and Kaushal choosing to represent themselves. The trials are anything but routine - with courtroom antics, confessions of love, confrontations with the judge, and more as Kaushal and Danny do everything they can to avoid a conviction. And hanging over all of it, the inconvenient fact that Cliff Lambert’s body is still missing. Despite all the circumstantial evidence against them, will Danny, Kaushal, and their crew still go free? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kim and Julie unravel the complex web of events that unfold in the months after Cliff’s murder - and the ordinary people who are key to bringing down these extraordinary conmen. In San Francisco, a notary public meets with someone claiming to be Cliff to notarize the sale of his home. As part of the sale, a thumbprint is inked in the notary’s book. A few days later, Kaushal asks realtor Mark Evans to sell Cliff’s house. But something about the situation feels off. When Mark discovers that Cliff has been reported missing, he calls Palm Springs PD. Meanwhile, in Palm Springs, Cliff’s neighbor calls 9-1-1 and reports three strangers loading all of Cliff’s possessions into a U-Haul truck. Within a few hours police arrest one of the movers - Miguel Bustamante. Miguel tells detectives that a man named Kaushal Niroula put him up to the robbery. Back in San Francisco, the notary public gets mugged, and the thief tries desperately to wrench the notary’s book from his grasp - even going so far as to drag him down the street. Somehow the notary clings to his journal, and then turns it over to the police. Inside is the thumbprint – the single piece of hard evidence linking Kaushal, Danny, and their gang of thieves to Cliff Lambert. But Detectives don’t realize that yet. And if they don’t make the connection soon, Kaushal and Danny might just evade justice again. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kaushal and Danny have just gotten away with murder. Literally. They move swiftly to put Cliff’s affairs in their control, using a notary public to notarize the “sale” of Cliff’s home to Kaushal and roping in a former unwitting accomplice in the art fraud to impersonate Cliff and withdraw money from his accounts. Now, they turn their attention to their biggest score yet - the theft of multiple high-end condos in the Bay Area. To do it, Kaushal reels in a mark he’d been working for weeks - a tennis coach with no idea what he’s truly involved in. The tennis coach does Kaushal “a favor” - one that will eventually land him in prison with a 13-year sentence. Julie and Kim piece together how Kaushal and Danny - posing as serious buyers, with the tennis coach as the front man - “buy” several units from an unsuspecting Rincon Hill resident and owner, Shirley Hwang, who has no idea her properties are being sold out from under her. Through a crew of straw-buyers, corrupt attorneys, and careless mortgage lenders they acquire the units and take out $2.2M dollars of home equity loans against them. Another massive score. But what Kaushal and Danny don’t know is that Palm Springs PD have started putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The same steps taken to help secure the prize from Cliff’s murder are about to become their undoing. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kim and Julie arrive back near where we started our story - with a missing person, but no body and no leads. As they try to unravel how the murder was discovered, their first surprise comes from Dennis, Danny’s cousin and an accomplice in former cons. According to him, there wasn’t originally supposed to be a murder at all. That realization leads them to question why that plan changed. We also meet Mark Evans, a wealthy realtor in NorCal and something of a mentor to Kaushal. When Kaushal asks Mark to sell Cliff’s house, he unwittingly starts the chain of events that will lead to his and Danny’s downfall. But they don’t know that yet. So what do you do after you’ve committed the biggest crime of your career? Try and top it of course. Plus, Kim receives a letter from one of the men later convicted of Cliff’s murder - Craig McCarthy, declaring “I’m ready to talk.” Looks like Kim’s headed to prison. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kim and Julie have tracked Kaushal and Danny from visa scams to jewel theft to art fraud. Now, finally, they begin to see how it all leads to murder. Since pulling off their lucrative art con, Danny and Kaushal’s friendship has mended though they don’t seem to be working together. But Danny, it seems, has been working Cliff - a beloved but lonely man looking for love. After connecting online, Cliff invites Danny to Palm Springs for a weekend. There was no love connection, but their friendship blossomed. Cliff was more than willing to fund Danny’s lifestyle in exchange for his attention. And Danny was there to help Cliff through a series of strange break-ins and odd experiences at home. Things were not where he’d left them, other items were missing completely. But eventually, Danny and Cliff have a falling out over money. As Julie and Kim dig into the details, they realize this may have been the fork where a plan to merely con Cliff turned deadly. Following his fight with Danny, Cliff told friends he felt like someone was watching him. He was right. Days later, Cliff vanished. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After returning from Hawaii, Kaushal is riding high and living large. He and Danny continue to mix with the upper echelons of the Castro’s gay scene which is how Kaushal becomes friends with Stephen Valentino, a bon vivant radio personality, host, and opera singer. Eventually, Stephen lets Kaushal move in with him and his ailing mother. Stephen doesn’t know it, but this choice will land him a front row seat to Kaushal and Danny’s next big score - a high level art scheme worth millions. But the success of this con also exposes cracks in Danny and Kaushal’s partnership. When Danny turns on him, Kaushal finds himself in need of more money - fast. Soon Stephen will discover he was never Kaushal’s friend at all - and just how far Kaushal is willing to go to cover his tracks. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did Kaushal go from nearly broke to Armani suits, private limos, and a suite at the Four Seasons where the staff referred to him as “your Highness”? A prison interview from Danny gives Kim and Julie a clue - maybe the answer is in Hawaii. It’s there that Kaushal befriends Keiko, a Japanese businesswoman and mother of two on vacation. Like all of Kaushal and Danny’s victims, Keiko is smart and competent. And yet, before long, Kaushal will con Keiko - not once, but twice - to the tune of half a million dollars. Nearly her entire life savings. Investigating how he did it reveals an international visa scam, an elaborate - and fake - kidnapping plot, and possibly willing participation from someone inside the Bank of Hawaii. And it sets the stage for Kaushal and Danny to go from thick as thieves to partners in crime. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kim and Julie set out to uncover the origin of Kaushal Niroula - a story that does start in Nepal, but not in any royal palace. Instead, they discover a poor young man with his eye on America and the drive to get there on his charm alone. Befriending an administrator from New College of California scores Kaushal the student visa he needs to make it to San Francisco and on campus he presents himself as a man of wealth. But an interview with his former roommate reveals that Kaushal is actually sleeping on a thin mattress, passing JC penny rugs off as wall art, and barely making rent - something his natural showmanship helps him keep secret. But New College has secrets of its own - the school is enmeshed in scandal and teetering on financial ruin. And Kaushal sees opportunity. Soon, he’s befriended the College President and used the promise of a hefty donation from his royal family to allegedly get his transcripts altered and extend his visa. It’s his first con on American soil - and when rumors of it get out, it helps put the final nail in New College’s coffin. Still, there’s one thing that doesn’t add up; at some point Kaushal did start throwing money around like a prince. The question was, where did it come from? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tyson Wrensch knows the exact moment that Danny Garcia got past his defenses. It was when, early in their friendship, Danny told him about Bay Area millionaire philanthropist Thomas White – and the abuse he suffered at his hands. Tyson was moved by the trust he felt Danny had put in him. And that made Tyson trust Danny. But as Julie and Kim consider this pivotal moment, it raises new questions – how could Danny Garcia, an alleged victim himself, go on to victimize so many others? Is it possible that Thomas White wasn’t really a predator at all? Was he actually one of Danny’s victims? Trying to decode the Thomas White story will lead Kim and Julie to another seriously dangerous character: Danny Garcia’s cousin, Dennis. Dennis was Danny and Kaushal’s driver, an ex-con, weed farmer, and self professed black magic practitioner. On at least two occasions, Kaushal asked Dennis to kill for him. Dennis claims he knows the truth about the Thomas White affair. So, to find out, Kim and Julie will have to sit down with him, face to face. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosts Julie Golden and Kim Kantner dive headfirst into the story behind the murder of a reclusive, gay Palm Springs millionaire, Cliff Lambert. Their first introduction to the story comes by way of a warning: very few people are likely to talk about this story because the characters behind the murder are that scary. Those characters are a gang of charming, charismatic, and ultimately dangerous con men - including Kaushal Niroula, the self-proclaimed “Prince of Nepal”, and Danny Garcia, one of San Francisco’s prettiest party boys. When our story begins, the only person willing to talk to Julie and Kim is Tyson Wrensch, a one-time private eye turned Silicon Valley exec who was taken for hundreds of thousands of dollars by Danny. Tyson has spent the years since being conned by his then best friend tracking down this group of savvy grifters and attempting to bring them to justice. Julie and Kim meet him on this journey - an odyssey that includes identity theft, near misses on the San Francisco BART train, and a trip to the desert to try and find what police never could. Cliff Lambert's body. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new podcast series about a pair of con men whose escalating crimes of greed left a trail of victims in their wake. The show follows the stories of Kaushal Niroula, Danny Garcia, and the victims whose bank accounts they drained and lives they upended. The two men masqueraded as real estate moguls, art dealers, bankers, and even royalty as their web of manipulation crossed academia, immigration, and finance. They scammed anyone they could — including each other — until they committed the one crime they couldn’t con their way out of: murder. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices