From Newsgroup: nyc.politics

The estranged husband of a prominent Chelsea art dealer paid a pal at
least $5,000 to stab the gallery owner to death in his bedroom in Brazil
in a sordid murder-for-hire plot, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Daniel Carrera Sikkema, a 54-year-old former prostitute who married
gallery owner Brent Sikkema in 2013, is now facing the death penalty in
the high-profile slaying that rattled the Big Apple art world, the US AttorneyAs Office in Manhattan said in a press release.

oIn the midst of a tense divorce, Daniel Sikkema allegedly financed the premature death of his estranged husband,o FBI Assistant Director in
Charge James Dennehy said in a statement.

oThe defendant allegedly hired a hitman to facilitate the international
murder of his husband, and attempted to conceal his involvement in this callous plan,o Dennehy said. oThe FBI will continue to vigorously
investigate any individual who selfishly and mercilessly orders the end to anotherAs life, regardless of where the crime may occur.o

According to the feds, Carrera hired the hit man u identified in reports
as Cuban national Alejandro Triana Prevez u to sneak into SikkemaAs
bedroom in his Rio de Janeiro apartment on Jan. 14, 2024 and stab the 75- year-old victim to death as they fought for custody of their young son.

Carrera made several secret payments to Prevez and the hit manAs lover, totaling $5,000 oand promised to make an additional payment at a later
date,o federal prosecutors said.

However, the hired killer was picked up by Brazilian authorities just four days after the murder.

Once in custody, Prevez allegedly came clean on the murder plot and told police he stabbed the victim 18 times in his face, chest and throat after being hired by Carrera.

He allegedly told cops that Carrera gave him a key to SikkemaAs apartment
in Rio and was seen on surveillance footage staking out the scene for 14
hours before the murder.

Carrera, who worked as a male prostitute in Havana and Madrid before
hooking up with the wealthy dealer, stood to inherit SikkemaAs multi-
million estate, but was in the midst of an ugly divorce.

He surrendered to police on April 14 and was charged with passport fraud u before being hit with the murder and conspiracy charges in a superseding indictment on Tuesday.

He is charged with one count of murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in
death, one count of conspiracy to murder and maim a person in a foreign country and one count of passport fraud, prosecutors said.

If convicted he faces life in prison or death, according to the feds.

Sikkema co-owned the Sikkema Jenkins Gallery in Chelsea and repped
prominent artists like painter Kara Walker and photographer Vik Muniz
before his death.

A familiar figure in city art circles, he rubbed elbows with Michelle
Obama and other high-profile figures.

His marriage to Carrera began to dissolve in 2022 and lapsed into a bitter legal battle. He disinherited his former paramour in May 2022 and left
money to another lover in his will.

https://nypost.com/2025/02/11/us-news/estranged-husband-of-nyc-art-dealer- brent-sikkema-paid-to-have-him-killed-in-brazil-after-bitter-split- prosecutors/

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