In 2008, Clifford Lambert, a 74-year-old Palm Springs art gallery dealer, was stabbed to death in his 4,300-square-foot home at 317 Camino Norte—a house he'd purchased decades earlier when he relocated to the desert in the 1980s. His body would remain hidden for nine years before discovery in 2017, buried beneath layers of deception and fraud orchestrated by Kaushal Niroula, a transgender con artist known by nicknames including "Nepalese Prince" and "Prince Little Stuff."
Lambert lived a double life. Publicly, he presented himself as a wealthy art collector and gallery owner worth tens of millions of dollars. Privately, after his partner Travis died, he lived alone in his lavish home, regularly flying men to Palm Springs for sexual encounters. This vulnerability—and his genuine wealth—made him a target.
Niroula brought a résumé of fraud spanning decades. Before orchestrating Lambert's murder, she had already served prison time for a $300,000 jewelry heist and the theft of three San Francisco condominiums, executed through forged deeds and bogus loans. She had also defrauded a Japanese woman—or a woman in Hawaii, depending on the account—of over $500,000. Remarkably, Niroula was released from prison shortly before Lambert's disappearance, wasting no time in returning to criminal enterprise.
Lambert's death was not a spontaneous crime of passion. It was part of a calculated conspiracy involving what media outlets later dubbed a "five-man 'gay grifters' cabal" operating between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The group's plan was comprehensive: murder Lambert, fraudulently sell his house, drain his bank and investment accounts, steal his Mercedes sports car, and loot his fine art collection. Nothing was left to chance; everything had monetary value.
In the weeks preceding his death, Lambert had entertained visitors who would later emerge as key figures in the conspiracy. On April 2, 2008, he flew a man named Dany to Palm Springs. Cliff allegedly discovered Dany in his study, possibly stealing. Rather than confront the theft directly, Lambert upgraded Dany's return flight to first class—a telling gesture that suggested either complicity, denial, or a desperate attempt to maintain control of a situation spiraling beyond his grasp. Another man named Miguel was caught in Lambert's house having taken his property.
The murder itself remained unsolved publicly for years, even as the fraud scheme unfolded in real time. One of Niroula's attorneys, David, claimed to believe that Lambert was still alive—a transparent attempt to muddy the waters and delay investigation. But the evidence was damning. In 2009, San Francisco Weekly published a cover story exposing the "gay grifters" scandal, bringing the conspiracy into public view. By then, Lambert's house had been sold through fraudulent means, his accounts emptied, and his possessions distributed among the conspirators.
