'I am a predator' - ruin follows him everywhere Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, May 23, 2010 Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/... Looking back, those who crossed paths with Kaushal Niroula - an exchange student accused in a dizzying binge of graft and murder - wonder if anything he ever said was true. He wasn't royalty in his native Nepal, as he once claimed, nor was he an estate lawyer or a luxury condominium buyer. Considering he is gay, it appears he did not fall in love with the Japanese tourist to whom he became engaged - while allegedly relieving her of half a million dollars. With wonder and horror, authorities and associates are recounting a singular crime spree in which, they say, a dogged con man exploited others' goodwill or greed. "This guy wanted that quantum leap," said Greg Ovanessian, a veteran San Francisco police fraud inspector, "from zero to everything." In his wake, authorities say, he left ruin. He contributed to the 2008 closure of New College of California in San Francisco, which had been around for 37 years. He is accused of conning an art collector out of $400,000 - money he blew in Las Vegas. In the capper, police say, Niroula and an odd band of accomplices killed a Palm Springs retiree and tried to sell his home. That has the 28-year-old Niroula - whom San Francisco prosecutors call the "Dark Prince" - in a Riverside County jail awaiting a Sept. 7 murder trial. "Honey," Niroula once told a friend in a text message revealed by prosecutors in the Palm Springs case, "everyone believes me until they have been conned ... some even after that." The promise Niroula had many believers after arriving in 2002 on a visa sponsored by New College, an alternative school in the Mission District. The instructor who recruited him, Jerry Dekker, said Niroula had lived in a one-room home in Kathmandu but had a striking personality. "Being poor, gay and incredibly sharp," Dekker said, "he wanted to escape that world." At New College, Niroula showed promise. His manners were regal, and he called instructors "sir" and "ma'am." He also spun a story. Although he wasn't paying tuition, he was rich - but cash-poor because his accounts were frozen amid unrest in Nepal. When he could, Niroula said, he would give the school $1 million. The scandal New College needed the lifeline. And its leader bought in. "He was very good at showing just enough little crumbs," said former New College President Martin Hamilton. Once, he recalled, he went to dinner with Niroula and a man the student introduced as Nepal's former deputy foreign minister. Another time, Hamilton got a call from a banker in India who explained how Niroula was busy making arrangements for the $1 million donation. The money never came, but scandal did. Niroula, faculty members said, gave the registrar papers with fake grades and Hamilton's signature. Hamilton said the signature was forged, but the resulting probe helped cost the school its accreditation with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Hamilton, who resigned in 2007, now admits he tried to help Niroula even after being conned out of thousands of dollars of his own money. "He had me convinced that his sister - and this sounds embarrassing - had been kidnapped," he said. "He needed a few thousand dollars to get her released." The veneer As the school sank, Niroula built an image that awed some people and turned off others. He didn't work, but amassed enough cash to frequent the Four Seasons and ride in limos. At Martuni's in San Francisco, bartenders recall him peeling off $100 for two drinks. "Image is everything," Ovanessian said. "When you buy a round for the house, it has an effect." Former housemate Thomas Avona, who was briefly married to a Nepalese who came to the United States with Niroula, described him as a childhood "nerd" who took flight in San Francisco. "He destroyed money," Avona said. "He made you feel like everything was going to be OK, because he had either the money or the scheme to take care of it." The con games The schemes that followed included the one that hooked the Japanese tourist. After meeting the woman on a 2006 trip to Waikiki, Niroula said he could get her a U.S. visa for investors if she wired more than $500,000 into a domestic account. When she did, Niroula drained the account with forged checks, the woman wrote in a lawsuit. Soon, he explained that he had only borrowed the money to help relatives flee Nepal. He was a member of the royal family, he said, and there were complications - his sister had been kidnapped. The woman then gave another $41,000 for ransom. She later told police - who doubt Niroula ever had a kidnapped sibling - that she planned to marry Niroula. They had not had sex, she explained, because "he respected her," Ovanessian said. Then there was the tale of the pretend painting. In September 2007, police say, Niroula and an art dealer boyfriend told collector Gary Heidenreich that he could acquire a work by surrealist Yves Tanguy. The British crown wanted to sell it quietly - the Nazis had once owned it - and needed $400,000 of the $990,000 price up front. Heidenreich gave the money to the boyfriend, who gave it to Niroula, who spent much of it at Bellagio in Las Vegas, police say. If Niroula was ambitious, he was also sloppy, authorities say. Heidenreich's money was traced to him, and on Feb. 29, 2008, San Francisco police arrested him. By then, though, he had made a fateful connection - befriending an attorney and his client who had filed a high-profile, and lucrative, lawsuit against a San Francisco financier. The sex case According to a friend, Niroula read about the attorney, David Replogle, and his client Danny Garcia in People magazine. He soon grew close to them and partied with Garcia. Garcia had become well known in 2003 by suing Thomas White, saying the wealthy financier had sex with him as a teenager. Two years later, White settled the suit - and a second suit Replogle filed on behalf of Mexican boys who said White abused them in Puerto Vallarta - for $10 million. Garcia, who is now 27, had helped recruit the Mexican plaintiffs. Today, White remains jailed in Mexico and faces federal sex-tourism charges in San Francisco. But he is appealing the deal with the Mexican boys, claiming that Garcia, Replogle and others conned him. It was Replogle, records show, who paid Niroula's $250,000 bail in the art caper. Niroula allegedly tried to pay him back by stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewelry from a friend in Novato, and was arrested in August 2008. A month later, a Marin County judge released Niroula, pending trial, when a hearing had to be postponed. The lead detective, records show, was unavailable while on honeymoon. The soap opera Within weeks, authorities say, Niroula was planning his two most startling crimes. "I am a predator," he texted Garcia in November 2008. "That's why you love me." Niroula, Garcia and Replogle had unusual relationships. Replogle once got a restraining order against Garcia, who countered in a court declaration that Replogle had showered White's alleged Mexican victims with cash and didn't care if they told the truth. Garcia and Niroula were "hot and cold," a boyfriend of Garcia's later testified. During a cold stretch, he said, Garcia hacked Niroula's e-mail and called people Niroula knew to warn them about him - including the Japanese tourist. He told others Niroula had tried to infiltrate the sex-tourism case to get some of White's money. The inheritance Still, in late 2008, Niroula and Garcia were in close contact. Prosecutors say they texted each other about "Operation C.L.," which targeted Cliff Lambert, 74, a Palm Springs retiree who was about to vanish. Lambert knew Garcia first, having met him online, Riverside County prosecutor Lisa DiMaria told a judge last year. Then, she said, Niroula became estate lawyer "Samuel Orin." He called Lambert to say he was in line for a big inheritance, prompting Lambert to invite him over. The unraveling On Dec. 5, 2008, prosecutors say, Niroula showed up at the house with two Heald College students from San Francisco whom he had offered a split of $30,000. One grabbed a knife and stabbed Lambert repeatedly, DiMaria said. She said Lambert was stuffed in the trunk of his own car and buried in the desert. His body has never been found. Garcia immediately splurged with Lambert's bank cards, DiMaria said, while Replogle posed as Lambert to give Niroula's art dealer boyfriend, Russell Manning, power of attorney over the dead man's affairs. On Jan. 6, 2009, DiMaria said, Manning deeded Lambert's home to Niroula, who deeded it to San Jose telecommunications executive Jay Shah - who had once bailed him out of immigration custody. The next day, though, police caught a break. The man who allegedly stabbed Lambert, Miguel Bustamante, was caught cleaning out the victim's home. In jail, prosecutors say, he detailed the conspiracy to an informant. Detectives also heard from a Saratoga real estate agent who had once let Niroula stay with him and his wife. Mark Evans said Niroula and Replogle had asked him to sell the Palm Springs house. The explanation: Lambert had offered the property in a secret deal after he and another man tied up Niroula, raped him and gave him AIDS. "It's always a wild story," Evans said. The condo con Even as police investigating the Lambert killing closed in, authorities say, Niroula was scheming another audacious crime. In early 2009, while acting as home-shopper "Syd Jones," Niroula got a look at a condominium in One Rincon Hill, San Francisco's tallest residential tower, said city prosecutor Michael Troncoso. Meanwhile, the prosecutor said, an accomplice, Winston Lum, forged papers to take title of the condo and two others worth $7.5 million - then applied for equity loans. Before the real owner of the three condos discovered what was going on, the lender visited the units to make sure the deal was solid. Lum took on the role of a Chinese-language speaker, Troncoso said, while Niroula became his translator. Lum didn't speak Chinese, though, and spouted "gibberish," the prosecutor said. An investigation began when the real owner, Shirley Hwang, started getting Lum's mail and discovered he, not she, held title with the city recorder. Lum, along with two other alleged participants - Jay Shah and San Jose attorney Melvin Emerich, who once aided Niroula in his Marin County case - have pleaded not guilty to multiple criminal counts. The takedown Niroula was also charged in the condo case. But by the time San Francisco prosecutors went to court, he and Replogle had been arrested on suspicion of murdering Lambert. The two were taken into custody March 2, 2009, outside a hearing in the art fraud case. Later that week, the $2.2 million condo loan was paid out to various accounts that police say are linked to the suspects. One check, for $869,000, was cashed in Zurich. But Niroula "barely missed the money," Ovanessian said. In July, police found Bustamante's Heald College classmate Craig McCarthy and charged him with Lambert's murder. Manning, Niroula's art dealer boyfriend, was arrested the next month. Authorities couldn't tie the 68-year-old to the killing, so he pleaded guilty to fraud and got five years in prison. As for Replogle and Garcia - who is also charged with murdering Lambert - they say they had nothing to do with his disappearance. Replogle's lawyer, John Patrick Dolan, said his 61-year-old client thought Niroula had traveled to Palm Springs to finalize a settlement with Lambert over his purported sexual assault of Niroula. Later, Dolan said, Replogle posed as Lambert only after his life was threatened by his alleged accomplices. But prosecutors say Replogle spoke on the phone to Niroula, Garcia and Bustamante more than 160 times in the days before Lambert's disappearance. The last believer As a trial nears, Niroula is still trying to sell his story. He is acting as his own attorney. He did not respond to an interview request sent to him in jail. But he still talks often on the phone to Jerry Dekker - the New College instructor who recruited him back in 2002 - assuring him he is innocent. "He said, 'Jerry, you know me better than anybody. I'm just a poor Nepali boy from south Kathmandu,' " Dekker said. "He said he wants to go back to school, get his degree and get a job in the U.S. State Department." Dekker said he does not condone any of the acts of which Niroula is accused, but has some sympathy for him. Niroula has suffered from homophobia and the greed of others, he said, and his story "could be instructive to all of us about the hopes and aspirations of people from poor countries." He was asked if Niroula might be manipulating him. "Of course, that's his genius!" Dekker said. "You don't think I know that?" String of cons Kaushal Niroula, who came to San Francisco as an exchange student from Nepal, is linked to a string of crimes and scandals, including: 2003-08: Niroula says he can't pay tuition at New College of California San Francisco because unrest in Nepal has frozen his accounts, but promises to give the school $1 million when he can. The money never comes, faculty members say, but a forged grade sheet for Niroula prompts a probe that closes the college. July to October 2006: Niroula takes more than $500,000 from a Japanese tourist he meets on a trip to Hawaii, according to the victim's lawsuit. A judge later orders damages against Niroula, who is not charged criminally. September 2007: Niroula and an art dealer boyfriend, Russell Manning, steal $400,000 from a collector, police say. They say Manning asked for a deposit on a painting by Yves Tanguy that actually sits in the National Gallery of Scotland. Niroula and Manning face charges. February 2008: Niroula steals more than $300,000 worth of jewelry from a friend in Novato, in a bid to raise bail money in San Francisco, police say. The jewelry is recovered. A trial is pending. December 2008: Niroula and four others conspire to murder a Palm Springs retiree, drain his accounts and sell his home, authorities say. The victim's body has not been found, but the suspects face a Sept. 7 murder trial. Early 2009: Niroula and three others fraudulently take possession of three condominiums in San Francisco worth $7.5 million and take out a $2.2 million equity loan, authorities say. Niroula faces charges along with his alleged accomplices. E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@fchronicle.com. This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/...

grgDai · May 26, 2010 10:19 AM

San Francisco, CA on Saturday, March 21, 2009 By Crime Reporter: Malati Chopra / T-Fare Online Correspondence: gayfareonline@gmail.com Subject: Malati Born into a lower middle-class family in Nepal, Kaushal Niroula (AKA Kylie Monali) always had big dreams. Many of his class mates teased and bullied him for being effeminate but he never let that bother him. He knew that one day he had to get out of a society where gays were treated like second class citizens. His classmate Nabin (last name withheld) from Xaviers School batch of 1998 in Kathmandu says, "people in our school used to bully him and gave him the feminine name 'Kaulie.' I also remember he was very preppy and flamboyant. He was interested in acting and theater but often got into trouble for making up his own lines while acting on stage!" Another classmate Subodh (last name withheld) from The Kathmandu Academy remembers him as someone who seemed to be “a sharp person and always very confident, even though many kids made fun of him behind his back. He told people in our school stories like he had powerful and rich family in America but no one believed him. No one with such a rich and powerful family background would send their kids to The Kathmandu Academy. The academy is basically an alternative for kids that cannot get into decent colleges” After graduating his O-Levels from Kathmandu, Kaushal applied to schools in the United States and was able to convince the US Embassy that he was a disciplined student who would come back to Nepal after college. His classmates were shocked to hear that Kaushal got a US Visa. Subodh said “most of us thought he was lying until he had left Nepal! We could not believe that someone who failed 10th grade and had such little resources could make it to the US. It must be because of his confidence in talking to the counselor.” Since he was a child, Kaushal always watched American TV channels like MTV, CNN etc. and tried hard to maintain an American accent. It was as if he always knew that he wasn’t meant to live in Nepal. His life was waiting for him in the gay capital of the world – San Francisco, USA! Niroula arrived as an F1 student at the New College of California in San Francisco in 2002. Unfortunately, bad habits die hard and Niroula started lying and scamming people soon after his arrived. He avoided associating with Nepalese students probably because they would know his background and uncover his lies. He started making a lot of American friends, pretending to be from the “royal family of Nepal with over $3.5 million net worth.” He quickly became very popular and even got the attention of his college president, Martin Hamilton. Several staff members believe that Niroula provided sexual favors to Martin in exchange for good grades and waiving tuition. Some staff also believed that Niroula might have led Hamilton to believe that he would be providing a million dollar donation to the school – money he never had! Soon the college's auditors placed the school on probation and launched an investigation which led Hamilton to resign. Niroula claimed that he never received any favors from Hamilton and said he was "used as a tool" by faculty members “to bring Martin Hamilton down."

grgDai · May 26, 2010 10:45 AM

Oh my gosh.. This is f**ing insane..How on earth a Nepali guy can do whole lots of shits in America and that also staying in a city like CA.. Hats off to the guts of the guy but he is such an a**hole.. He didn't think about the consequences about the things that he is going to do.. I bet you that this definitely will affect the other Nepalese Community that is in CA... He should be hanged till death... Don't have any sympathy for a criminal like him..

boulevard dreams · May 26, 2010 12:16 PM

I wish he has used his brain POSITIVELY and it would have different story. Living in lie would not last longer, it tangles and tangles badly and here are the consequences. 

NayaSadak · May 26, 2010 5:23 PM

Correction "living in lie" works perfectly fine in Nepal, nobody gets caught, never. Had he done those same thing in Nepal, he would been a very successful, powerful and even a "dignified" person by our standard. He was smart, very smart, but dumb at the same time not to realize that things will fall apart sometime in the US. Eventually the US government will get you, even if you're a bed ridden old man, about to die. God bless America.

Rewire · May 26, 2010 7:34 PM

haha wat a idiot

rid · May 27, 2010 6:29 PM