CALIFORNIA WOMAN PLACES 35M BAIL

A Hillsborough woman accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend could be released from custody Thursday by posting a staggering $35 million in bail, an unprecedented amount in San Mateo County, according to District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

The total value of bail for Tiffany Li, who is accused with two others of murdering her ex-boyfriend Keith Green, is $66 million. Li’s family is putting up $4 million in cash, and because the remainder is in the form of equity in property from family and friends, it must double the remaining $31 million, Wagstaffe said.

The San Mateo County Counsel reviewed all the properties and verified their values, Wagstaffe said.

“Somebody told me it’s one of the largest bails to be posted in the United States,” Wagstaffe said. “I have to imagine it’s one of the larger ones. Certainly for San Mateo County it’s without precedent.”

Li has been in custody since SWAT officers arrested her in May, 2016 in her Hillsborough mansion, where a fleet of luxury cars often sat in the driveway, including a Rolls-Royce, Land Rover, Mercedes and Ferrari. Prosecutors allege Li killed Green over fears she was going to lose a custody battle over their two young daughters.

Judge Donald Ayoob is expected on Thursday to approve a set of bail conditions agreed upon by prosecutors and Li’s defense attorneys. If that happens, Li will have to surrender to all passports to law enforcement, remain under house arrest and electronic home monitoring at all times, not be in possession of any passport for her children and remain at least 100 yards from any airport.

If Li fails to show for any of her court appearances, the court will forfeit the cash bail and the property will be subject to forfeiture by the county, Wagstaffe said. The cash and equity will be returned if Li makes all her court appearances.

Li and co-defendants Olivier Adella, 41, and Kaveh Bayat, 30, have all been charged with killing Green, whose body was found May 11, 2016 in a wooded area near Healdsburg in Sonoma County. Each faces a charge of felony murder, along with a special allegation that one of them was armed with a gun while carrying out the homicide.

Adella and Bayat remain in custody in no-bail status. The case for all three defendants is set for jury trial on Sept. 18.

Prosecutors contend the trio murdered Green on April 28, 2016, after Li and Green met for an hour in the parking lot of the Millbrae Pancake House to discuss a custody dispute involving their two young daughters.

Green was reported missing the following day, when he did not return home, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said. A hiker later found Green’s cellphone in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Green was found dead from a gunshot wound on May 11, 2016.

Green was studying to become a chef at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in San Francisco while working two jobs, “trying to make ends meet to get a place for them,” one of his friend’s previously told this newspaper.

Mitri Hanania, an attorney who briefly represented Green, previously told this newspaper the couple broke up in 2015 after he discovered Li had been having an affair with Bayat. Li accused Green of striking her and stealing a Landrover she had given him that was insured in his name, said Hanania. Green was exonerated by text messages between the two and the District Attorney’s Office ultimately rejected the case, the lawyer said.

THIS WAS POSTED LAST YEAR

Rumors and mystery always swirled around the French chateau-style mansion on West Santa Inez Avenue in this wealthy enclave.
Crews of nannies, housekeepers and landscapers came and went. Once a week, professionals detailed the fleet of exotic cars in the driveway — a white Rolls-Royce, a black Land Rover, a high-performance Mercedes and a Ferrari.

Neighbors rarely saw the young mother, Tiffany Li, from a wealthy Chinese family, or her ex-boyfriend, the children’s father, culinary student Keith Green, and they often wondered what was going on behind the impressive double doors. Early Saturday morning, however, a SWAT team rammed through the wrought-iron security gate to find out.

“Come out with your hands up!” neighbors heard through a police bullhorn. Before dawn, Li, 30, and her new boyfriend, Kaveh Bayat, 29, were arrested at the home. A third suspect, Oliver Adella, 40, was arrested at his Burlingame home the night before.

All were charged with murdering Green, 27, who was found dead May 11, decomposing in a wooded area near Healdsburg. He vanished two weeks earlier, authorities said, the night he was supposed to meet Li at the Pancake House in Millbrae. The couple had two daughters, ages 2 and 4, together.

Green told his friends he had been falsely accused of domestic violence and that he had been threatened by Li and Bayat.

“He told everyone, everyone in his life knew he was afraid,” said one of Green’s friends, who didn’t want to be identified.

Neighbors and others didn’t want to be identified, saying they were afraid for their safety in the wake of the heinous crime and custody fight.

Green was reported missing April 29 when he did not return home following the meeting with Li at the Pancake House the night before, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said. A hiker later found his cellphone in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Green was studying to become a chef at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in San Francisco while working two jobs, “trying to make ends meet to get a place for them,” the friend said. He was an active and doting parent, his friend said.

“He took them to school, appointments,” the friend said.

The three suspects have been charged with murder and conspiracy and are being held without bail in the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City. They are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in San Mateo County Superior Court.

Green’s body was found near a homeless encampment by members of an outreach group, who called police.

Sheriff’s Detective Sal Zuno said investigators are withholding Green’s cause of death because investigators are still working on the case. An autopsy by the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office determined Green’s death was a homicide.

“The investigation is still ongoing and very active,” Zuno said. “Are detectives actively looking for other suspects? No. But it is possible that others will be identified in the course of the investigation.”