Cliff Lambert Thought He Had Inherited Valuable Artwork. Instead, He Was Scammed and Stabbed to Death By Caroline Blair

Cliff Lambert was an art dealer and socialite whose life was tragically taken from him in a cruel scheme.

Lambert was the target of an extravagant scam in which multiple men conspired to kill him and pose as him to steal more than $200,000 from his accounts. The plot began a month before his murder when a man named Kaushal Niroula contacted him, claiming to be an attorney with a wealthy family who left a will that named Lambert as an heir, Deputy District Attorney Lisa DiMaria alleged during a trial for two of the men, per the Desert Sun.

On Dec. 5, 2008, while Niroula was visiting Lambert in Palm Springs, Calif., he secretly let in two other men, Craig McCarthy and Miguel Bustamante, who proceeded to stab Lambert to death, according to DiMaria.

Just days later, the group, which also included David Replogle, Daniel Carlos Garcia and Russell Manning, worked together to pose as Lambert, opened a bank account and granted Manning power of attorney. They went on to wire $185,000 from Lambert’s original bank account to the new one they created and later stole an additional $45,000, DiMaria claimed.

“It was, like, Alice in Wonderland, falling into a rabbit hole,” she recalled to Dateline in a preview for their Oct. 10 episode on the case. “It took months of me eating, living, sleeping, breathing this case to sort it all out. My life was this case.”

The scheme began to fall apart in January 2009 when Lambert’s neighbors reported unusual activity in his home. All six men were arrested over the next few months. However, the entire ordeal took nearly two decades to wrap up because of alleged judicial misconduct, retrials and lawsuits.

Here’s everything to know about the murder of Cliff Lambert and the decades-long ordeal to convict the six men who conspired to kill and steal from him.

Lambert was a retired art collector and socialite

Lambert was 74 years old at the time of his death and had spent most of his life as both an art dealer and a replicator, his friend Steven Kilcullen, who met him in the mid-’90s, told NBC News in November 2024.

Kilcullen described Lambert as a wealthy socialite who came from nothing to become a success in the art world. In addition, friend Eddie Mullikin, who met Lambert in the mid-2000s, told the outlet that he admired his friend for being a successful gay man in a time of heightened homophobia.

“It was just a really stunning example of a good friend,” Mullikin said.

At the time of his death, Lambert was trying to get back onto the dating scene after his longtime partner died, former prosecutor Robert Hightower claimed in one of the suspect’s trials, per NBC News. Lambert went on to join an online dating website where he met Garcia, who was around 50 years his junior.

Mullikin claimed that he met Garcia when Lambert flew him down to Palm Springs in the spring of 2008. The trip went south after Lambert realized that Garcia was looking for money for a business, and Garcia left. The outcome allegedly left Garcia upset and determined to get the money from Lambert in a different way.

Lambert was a victim of a financial scheme and was stabbed to death in 2008

Garcia started conspiring a scheme with Niroula shortly after his trip with Lambert, prosecutors alleged. The pair reportedly later asked San Francisco attorney Replogle to get involved. Niroula knew the lawyer because he had represented him in a 2002 sexual abuse case against investment banker Thomas White.

As the three men plotted the scheme, they enlisted the help of three more men: San Francisco bartender Bustamante, his roommate McCarthy and San Francisco art dealer Manning.

The scheme got underway in November 2008 when Niroula pretended to be a lawyer and called Lambert, claiming that he was representing a wealthy family who had left him money and artwork in their will. In order to obtain the possessions, Lambert needed to sign the documents in person.

On Dec. 5, 2008, Lambert hosted Niroula at his home in Palm Springs. While the two were discussing the deal, Niroula secretly let Bustamante and McCarthy into the house. The former reportedly stabbed Lambert to death, and the three men then cleaned the crime scene and left to bury Lambert’s body.

Lambert’s murderers impersonated him to steal over $200,000

Five days after the three men worked together to kill Lambert, they involved the three other men to steal over $200,000 from the late art dealer. Replogle posed as Lambert and opened a Wells Fargo account while also giving Manning the power of attorney over Lambert’s finances, per the Desert Sun.

Manning went on to send $185,000 from Lambert’s real bank account to the new Wells Fargo account. A few days later, Replogle forged documents giving Manning the power of attorney over Lambert’s estate and met with realtors to try to sell his house. They continued transferring $30,000 and writing a check for $15,000 before closing the account.

Lambert’s murder resulted in a nearly two-decade-long legal battle

Shortly after Lambert was murdered, his friends and neighbors reported him missing and noticed unusual activity in his house.

By January 2009, authorities had started to investigate the plot, and Bustamante was the first arrested. Over the next few months, the conspirators turned on each other and all six were arrested and charged with various crimes — including murder, manslaughter, grand theft and conspiracy.

McCarthy pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for testifying against four of his co-conspirators, per The Bay Area Reporter. He was sentenced to 25 years and 4 months in prison in 2013, according to News Channel 3. Manning also pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was sentenced to five years in prison. He has since died, according to KTLA.

Meanwhile, Bustamante was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder and eight other felony counts in January 2011, according to the Desert Sun. Replogle received the same sentence and charges in a separate trial. Finally, both Garcia and Niroula were also sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in September 2012 on charges of murder and conspiracy.

However, the cases all took a turn less than a decade after Lambert’s murder when Niroula appealed his conviction and sentencing by releasing recordings made between Garcia and their trial judge that showed the latter making derogatory comments, according to The Bay Area Reporter.

In 2020, a judge overturned the four murder convictions and granted Niroula, Garcia, Bustamante and Replogle retrials.

In 2022, four of the defendants were retried for his murder

Nearly 15 years after Lambert’s murder, four of the men convicted of being involved in his death were retried for their crimes. In August 2022, Replogle was convicted of murder and seven other felonies for a second time, per the Office of the District Attorney of the County of Riverside. He was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on July 18, 2025.

While awaiting his retrial, Niroula was killed in prison in 2022, per the Los Angeles Times and a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family. The sheriff’s office has denied any wrongdoing, and the case is ongoing.

In 2023, Garcia’s retrial took place, and he was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, grand theft and identity theft. He received the same sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in April 2025, per the Desert Sun.

Bustamante underwent his retrial in 2023 and was convicted of murder, conspiracy and grand theft, among other felony charges. In November of that year, he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, per the Desert Sun.