This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - New York, Southern), published as received.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, and Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced today that DANIEL SIKKEMA was sentenced to life in prison for the January 14, 2024, murder of SIKKEMA’s husband, Brent Sikkema, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos. SIKKEMA was convicted on May 22, 2026, following a two-week trial on charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.
“Today’s life sentence holds Daniel Sikkema accountable for a cold, calculated murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the murder of his husband, Brent Sikkema,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “For months, the defendant manipulated friends, family, and employees to execute a killing driven by greed. His actions demonstrated a profound disregard for human life and the rule of law. This sentence reflects the seriousness of the crime, and it reflects the strength and perseverance of the victim’s community and our law enforcement partners.”
“Sikkema’s sick scheme to murder his estranged husband has culminated in a life behind bars,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. “The FBI and its law enforcement partners will continue to utilize every tool available to ensure that criminals who perpetrate the cruelest crimes have no way out. Justice will find you.”
According to the Superseding Indictment, public court filings, and the evidence presented at trial:
Beginning in 2023, SIKKEMA agreed to pay Alejandro Prevez to kill SIKKEMA’s estranged husband, Brent Sikkema, in Brazil. At that time, SIKKEMA and Brent Sikkema were engaged in contentious divorce proceedings, and Brent Sikkema, the owner of a well-known art gallery in Manhattan, regularly stayed at a residence he owned in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To facilitate the murder-for-hire plot, SIKKEMA, a U.S. and Cuban citizen, sent eleven payments to Prevez and Prevez’s romantic interest in Cuba. SIKKEMA concealed the source of each of these payments by using the identities of unwitting friends, employees, and family members.
On January 14, 2024, Prevez murdered Brent Sikkema at his residence in Rio de Janeiro by stabbing him 18 times. Minutes after the murder, Prevez called SIKKEMA multiple times on a secret phone number that SIKKEMA had arranged with Prevez to communicate about the murder plot. Shortly after the murder, SIKKEMA secretly sent a $5,000 payment to Prevez for the murder, with the promise of additional payments to come.
On January 18, 2024, Prevez was arrested by Brazilian law enforcement for his involvement in the commission of Brent Sikkema’s murder. His criminal case remains pending in Brazilian courts.
* * *
In addition to prison, SIKKEMA, 56, of New York, New York, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
Mr. McDonald thanked the FBI New York Field Office. Mr. McDonald also expressed appreciation for the assistance of the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Brazil; the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section; the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs; the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Military Police of Minas Gerais, Brazil; and the Fiscalía Provincial de Castellón, Spain.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith Foster, Remy Grosbard, Alexander Li, and Nicholas Pavlis are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from paralegal specialists Mackenzie Ford and Olivia Sebade.
