The estranged husband of a millionaire art dealer murdered in Manhattan is facing extradition to Brazil on suspicion of ordering the murder, the Post reported.
Daniel García Carrera, 53, is suspected of paying for her estranged husband, Brent Sikkema, 75, who was stabbed to death at their winter home in Rio de Janiero in January. The judge handed down the verdict.
Brazil’s Justice Department must formally request García Carrera’s extradition to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., but the FBI’s dawn raid on his Manhattan apartment amid claims he was planning to flee the country He was arrested and is already out on bail.
In a March 25 ruling, Rio judge Tula Correa de Mello formally asked for the cooperation of Brazil’s Ministry of Justice in seeking an “urgent” extradition, according to Rio police.
A judge will hold a hearing for Garcia Carrera, a former male prostitute with whom Sikkema has a son, now 13, at 3 p.m. June 3 in Rio, according to court documents obtained by the Post on Wednesday. It was set.
Sikkema, 75, died of multiple stab wounds on January 15, the day before he returned to New York City, in the bedroom of a row house he owned in Rio’s popular Jardim Botanico neighborhood.
Alejandro Triana Preves, a Cuban resident of São Paulo, was charged with murder.
However, Triana Preves told detectives that Carrera ordered the beating, promised her $200,000 and sent her the keys to Sikkema’s Rio home by courier, Brazilian media reported.
Rio police released video footage taken from a nearby property that shows Triana keeping Sikkema’s residence in the city’s Botanical Gardens area under surveillance for 14 hours before entering his home before the murder. It is said that it is reflected in the image.
Garcia Carrera, who currently has sole custody of the couple’s 13-year-old son, Lucas, was arrested in a pre-dawn FBI raid on his Kipps Bay home last month and was arrested on the teenager’s passport application. He was charged with making a false statement, the Post reported. revealed.
Federal prosecutors considered Garcia-Carrera a flight risk and asked him to be jailed, but he was released on $1 million bail and must wear an ankle bracelet. said.
Sikkema, who has partied with Michelle Obama and represented artists Kara Walker and Vic Muniz, among others, died in May 2022, two months after Garcia-Carrera filed for divorce in Manhattan State Supreme Court. In January, the Post exclusively reported that she had removed her husband from her will.
The divorce was unresolved at the time of Sikkema’s death earlier this year, according to court filings.
Sikkema left a $1 million trust to another ex-girlfriend and left the majority of his estate to his son, including a $2.8 million apartment in Chelsea and an interest in his gallery, Sikkema Jenkins & Company.
However, according to the will, Lucas Sikkema will only be able to secure half of his estate after he turns 30, and the rest after he turns 40.
In addition to his New York properties, Mr. Sikkema owns multiple homes in Cuba and Rio de Janeiro, as well as a large estate on Fire Island held in trust by Mr. García Carrera, according to public documents reviewed by the newspaper. was.
García Carrera’s attorney declined to comment to the Post Thursday. His lawyer in Brazil said he would resist any attempt to extradite his client, who is now the sole caregiver of the couple’s teenage son, the sources said.
“We are committed to protecting his innocence. [Garcia Carrera] Sikkema,” Fabiana Marquez said. said in a statement to Rio news site G1.
