City Attorney David Chiu has sued two accused squatters who allegedly used forged deeds to seize a vacant $4 million mansion in San Francisco’s ultra-wealthy Sea Cliff neighborhood.
The lawsuit, filed against Brandon Aadee and Diana Peng, accuses the pair of an “unlawful scheme to obtain ownership” of the property at 250 32nd Avenue through fraudulently notarized documents recorded with the city assessor. “Defendants are effectively trying to steal a house and sell it to make millions in profit. That is fraud, and they are trying to profit off that crime,” Chiu said when announcing the legal action.
The property has sat empty since 2019 and belongs to Wei Wang, an absentee Chinese owner who investigators say holds the legitimate deed. Wang has reportedly been unable to enter the United States to secure the property and is years behind on taxes, owing more than $324,000.
The saga has dragged on for over a year while neighbors say their pleas to city officials went unanswered. Around May 2025, residents of the exclusive enclave — where Robin Williams once lived — began reporting a cascade of problems including apparent break-ins, theft, suspicious characters, and a major flooding incident from a damaged water main outside the home.
“I go to bed nervous. I wake up nervous,” one neighbor said. The anxiety has driven residents to organize a WhatsApp group called “watch 250” to share surveillance footage and coordinate their response. “It really has been a 24-hour surveillance that’s going on,” another neighbor said. “People are at a breaking point.”
Surveillance footage has captured unknown people loading suitcases into a car at approximately 4 a.m., and one neighbor claims her scooter was stolen. Luxury vehicles, some appearing to lack license plates, have also been spotted outside the mansion.
The alleged squatters’ paths to the property trace through a convoluted paper trail. Property records show the deed bounced between Aadee and Peng at least seven times over the past year, including four times since July. Each now claims the other lacks legitimate ownership. Aadee even attempted to sell the home, but the deal collapsed when the realtor grew suspicious.
Both Aadee and Peng have allegedly used forged documents to deceive police on multiple occasions when detained trying to access the home. Peng, 52, was convicted of felony perjury in San Mateo County in March 2008 and sentenced to three years’ probation and 90 days in jail. In 2012, facing five felonies including forgery and using another person’s ID, she pleaded to identity theft and commercial burglary and served seven months. Three years later, charged with four more counts including forging a driver’s license, she was sentenced to two years.
Aadee’s criminal history stunned neighbors who looked him up online after learning his name. He was federally charged in 2008 with stealing more than $48,000 in Hurricane Katrina relief despite not being a New Orleans resident or victim. FEMA paid him over $34,000 and the Red Cross covered $13,000 for hotel stays. He was also charged with credit card fraud after taking a Visa from an envelope in a San Francisco apartment hallway and running up more than $11,000 over six months, much of it at Aladdin Bail Bonds locations in Marin and San Mateo. Aadee pleaded guilty to both federal charges in 2009 and was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison plus roughly $60,000 in liens, then cycled in and out of custody on probation violations through 2012. In September last year, San Mateo County charged him with five felonies including identity theft and possession of a forged driver’s license over an alleged August incident; the arrest warrant remains active.
The San Francisco Police Department said the District Attorney’s Office is investigating the case. The alleged deed scheme has also drawn attention to vulnerabilities in notary procedures. “It’s tragic,” Bill Anderson, vice president of Government Affairs of the National Notary Association, said. “What we’re finding at the National Notary Association… 12% of our $100,000 insurance claims since 2023, those have been seal fraud cases,” he said, adding that the notary becomes a victim in these alleged deed frauds.
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors was asked Tuesday by the city’s tax collector to auction the home since it is more than five years behind on property taxes. The opening bid would start at $500,000, but if anyone pays off the tax debt, the auction gets canceled. The board must still approve the auction, leaving stressed neighbors in limbo. Meanwhile, California laws prevent police from immediately removing trespassers, forcing homeowners into lengthy court processes.