Deegan,
If you are going to do this you need to get professional advice (not PPRUNE advice!) as doing it yourself can go badly wrong.
By far the easiest approach is to use an N-reg trust company such as the one in the link IO540 provided. You haven't indicated if you are looking for a long term (ie. permanent ownership structure) or just looking to cover the gap in moving it to your home country registration. Note - at the moment the aircraft can not legally fly as it appears to have been sold (hence no longer registered to that owner) and your friend doesn't yet have a legal structure that can own an N-reg.
Can the re-registration to your Asian registry happen without a physical inspection?