True Crime News Presents: American Hustlers - podcast cover

True Crime News Presents: American Hustlers

True Crime News Presents: American Hustlerstruecrimenews.com
Kaushal Niroula and Danny Garcia - two gay con artists who committed crimes from San Francisco to Hawaii to Mexico, each one more unbelievable than the last. They were tracked for years by Tyson Wrensch, a citizen detective who vowed to bring them to justice after they emptied his bank accounts. Kaushal and Danny masqueraded as real estate moguls, art dealers, bankers and even royalty – taking advantage of corruption and weaknesses in the American business structure – the banking system, academia, immigration laws, the private fine-art market, and more. They even conned each other. They were never pursued by law enforcement for their crimes until they committed the one crime they couldn’t con their way out of: murder.

Episodes

Episode 12: The Body in the Desert

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...

Apr 14, 20251 hr 1 minSeason 1Ep. 12

Episode 11: The End is Just The Beginning

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 alw...

Apr 07, 202546 minSeason 1Ep. 11

Episode 10: The Noose

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....

Mar 31, 202552 minSeason 1Ep. 10

Episode 9: Stealing Property

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 ...

Mar 24, 202539 minSeason 1Ep. 9

Episode 8: Rincon Hill

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 tenn...

Mar 17, 202544 minSeason 1Ep. 8

Episode 7: Unraveling the Murder

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 Ma...

Mar 10, 202545 minSeason 1Ep. 7

Episode 6: Cliff Lambert

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 bl...

Mar 03, 202544 minSeason 1Ep. 6

Episode 5: Priceless Paintings and Family Jewels

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 s...

Feb 24, 202550 minSeason 1Ep. 5

Episode 4: Aloha Keiko

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 ...

Feb 17, 202546 minSeason 1Ep. 4

Episode 3: The Dark Prince

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 sle...

Feb 10, 202545 minSeason 1Ep. 3

Episode 2: The Thomas White Affair

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 ...

Feb 03, 202548 minSeason 1Ep. 2

Episode 1: American Hustlers

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 Sa...

Jan 27, 202541 minSeason 1Ep. 1

Cons. Disguises. Manipulation. Murder. | True Crime News Presents: American Hustlers

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 cri...

Jan 24, 20252 min
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