Federal prosecutors have indicted the estranged husband of a slain New York Metropolis artwork seller in a murder-for-hire plot, saying he made a number of funds to the person arrested for the killing in Brazil throughout a contentious divorce.
Daniel Sikkema, 54, of New York was indicted Tuesday on homicide conspiracy expenses, in addition to passport fraud.
“The defendant allegedly employed a hitman to facilitate the worldwide homicide of his husband and tried to hide his involvement on this callous plan,” FBI Assistant Director in Cost James E. Dennehy mentioned in an announcement.
Sikkema’s lawyer mentioned his consumer is assured he’ll in the end be cleared of the costs.
“Mr. Sikkema has maintained his innocence consistently. And he is entirely confident that he’ll be vindicated at trial,” his legal professional Richard Levitt instructed The Related Press by cellphone on Wednesday.
Sikkema’s husband, Brent Sikkema, then 75, was discovered stabbed to dying in January 2024 in his townhouse in Rio de Janeiro, the place he frequently traveled. Brent Sikkema, who prosecutors mentioned had amassed a multimillion-dollar property, co-owned the modern artwork gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in Manhattan.
The gallery represents worldwide artists together with Jeffrey Gibson, Kara Walker and Vik Muniz.
Shortly after the killing, Rio state police arrested a person who they recognized as Alejandro Triana Trevez close to town of Uberaba, within the neighboring state of Minas Gerais. The person was on the run and located resting in a gasoline station.
Trevez was not referred to by identify within the indictment unsealed Wednesday. In accordance with Brazilian media he had beforehand labored because the sufferer’s bodyguard.
In accordance with the indictment, Daniel Sikkema, a U.S. and Cuban citizen, despatched a number of funds to Trevez and his romantic accomplice in Cuba, from mid-2023 to January 2024. Prosecutors declare Sikkema used a stolen identification or an middleman to make the funds whereas concealing his personal identification.
If convicted, he faces a compulsory penalty of life in jail or dying.
