| DEMIAN BULWA/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
SAN FRANCISCO, March 25:
An accused con artist and murder suspect from Nepal dubbed "the Dark
Prince" has been linked to another startling caper, San Francisco
police and prosecutors said Wednesday.
Kaushal Niroula and three others fraudulently took ownership of three
luxury condos in the city last year, then took out a $2.2 million
equity loan and divided it up, authorities said.
The men assumed fake identities, duped real estate agents, obtained
keys and secured actual title to the condos, which are in one of the
city´s tallest towers, authorities said.
But the plot fell apart after the real owner of the homes at One Rincon
Hill - which together are worth about $7.5 million - received mail
addressed to one of the suspects, authorities said.
When Shirley Hwang checked with the city, she found the fraudulent
sales had already gone through. She called police, and is now suing the
lender in an attempt to get it to release its interest in the
properties.
"The breathtaking scope, complexity and theatrics of this scam and
these con men rivals any Hollywood movie," District Attorney Kamala
Harris said. "Thanks to the hard work of the D.A.´s office and the
SFPD, the story had the proper ending."
Seven police agencies conducted simultaneous raids on six Bay Area
locations Tuesday. They arrested Jay Shah, 45, of San Jose on 19
criminal counts including conspiracy and theft, and his attorney,
57-year-old Melvin Emerich of Santa Cruz, on 13 counts.
Winston Lum, 45, a former San Francisco tennis instructor, had been arrested Feb. 4 and charged with 21 counts.
But the most startling name to emerge in the case is Niroula, whom
prosecutors referred to as "the Dark Prince." Niroula, 29, once used a
student visa to move from Nepal to San Francisco, where authorities say
he launched a years-long crime spree.
Niroula and four other men - including attorney David Replogle of San
Francisco - have been accused of murdering a 74-year-old Palm Springs
retiree in December 2008 in an effort to steal his money and profit
from the sale of his home.
In Marin County, Niroula faces felony charges of grand theft and theft
from an elder. He is accused of stealing $300,000 worth of jewelry from
a 78-year-old Novato woman.
In the luxury condo scam, prosecutors said, Lum forged the signature of
the true owner - whom he had never met - while granting himself deed to
the properties.
He allegedly recorded the fake transactions with the city, then secured
an equity loan from De Witte Mortgage Investors Fund in Santa Barbara.
Brian Buckelew, a spokesman for Harris, said Niroula got keys to the
condos from a real estate agent by pretending to be a wealthy investor
and would-be renter named "Syd Jones."
Before approving the loan, the bank sent representatives to see the
condo. Lum took on the character of a Chinese-language speaker who knew
little English, Buckelew said, while Niroula pretended to be his
adviser and translator, "Joshua Beam."
Lum didn´t actually speak Chinese, though, and spouted "gibberish" to
the lenders, Buckelew said, adding, "It´s so beyond absurd."
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