American officials on Tuesday a New York man hired a hitman to accus famous art dealer Brent Sickema of killing a prominent art dealer in Brazil in their controversial divorce lawsuit. It was announced.
Daniel R. Sasson, acting head of the U.S. Lawyer's Office in Manhattan, said in a statement that Daniel Sickema's actions were “a cold-blooded conspiracy to murder.”
Sickema, 54, was arrested Tuesday and appeared in court, federal officials said. If convicted, he faces mandatory punishment for prison or death.
Richard Levitt, the lawyer representing Sickema, said in an email that his client “is always maintaining his innocence now and looking forward to his full proof at trial.”
In January 2024, Brazilian authorities discovered the body of Brent Sickema, shocking the world of art, with 18 stab wounds in his Rio de Janeiro apartment. Through his gallery now known as Sickema Jenkins Malloy, Sickema, 75, defended artists such as Kara Walker, Jeffrey Gibson and Vic Muniz. (Gibson continued to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale.)
Manhunt led to Preves' arrest after investigators recovered surveillance footage that said an investigator named Alejandro Triana Pleves, a former bodyguard for Brent Sickema, showed him entering and leaving the house. Ta.
According to a lawsuit that was taken sealed Tuesday, Daniel Sickema often arranges a series of payments to Hitman through others before the murder, then arranged a $5,000 payment, and later added additional payments. I promised. The indictment doesn't name Preves, but the suspect, called CC-1, points out that he was arrested on January 18, 2024 on the same day as Prives.
In March, Sickema was arrested in Manhattan and charged with one count of passport fraud, leading to concerns that he plans to flee the country. At about the same time, a Brazilian judge had sought extradition in the face of a domestic arrest.
The replacement charges in New York included a charge of passport fraud, a conspiracy to commit employment murder and a conspiracy to kill a foreigner.
When Brent Sickema was killed, he returned from the daily duties of his gallery and was in the process of spending more time with his teenage son. He had been escaped to Rio de Janeiro for many years, where he described his apartment as a “oasis” of a true city.
When Brazilian police turned their attention to Daniel Sickema last year, his Brazilian lawyer, Fabiana Marquez, said Sickema was “shocked” by the charges.
Born under the name Daniel Garcia Carrera, Sickema arrived in the United States after a difficult childhood in Cuba and working as a male escort in Spain, and in his 2006 autobiography, “Tickets to Paradise” I went through the experiences I recorded in an autobiography called. Over the past few months, he posted a YouTube video where he provided tour guide information about New York.
Shortly after the gallerist's body was discovered in January 2024, Sickema posted a photo of the black rose on social media along with notes written in Spanish to express his sadness. In the most painful way. ”
