A little over a year after Brent Sikkema was discovered dead in Brazil, the late New York gallerist’s husband has been charged with hiring someone to kill him.
Sikkema was the founder of the gallery formerly known as Sikkema Jenkins & Co., whose roster includes Kara Walker, Jeffrey Gibson, and Louis Fratino. The gallery recently renamed itself Sikkema Malloy Jenkins after Meg Malloy was appointed as a partner.
He was found stabbed to death in his Rio de Janeiro apartment in January 2024, setting off an investigation that captured the attention of the media, both in Brazil and in New York.
Alejandro Triana Prevez, a 30-year-old Cuban man, subsequently confessed to Sikkema’s killing, though Prevez’s lawyer would later allege that he had been manipulated into killing the dealer by Daniel Sikkema, Brent’s ex-husband.
According to reports in the Brazilian media, Brent Sikkema and Daniel Sikkema had been seeking a divorce, the proceedings for which had grown “contentious,” according to an FBI announcement issued on Tuesday. Daniel had been reportedly seeking visitation rights with their son, as well as millions of dollars.
On Tuesday, Daniel Sikkema was charged in New York for murder-for-hire, passport fraud, and conspiracy to murder a person in a foreign country. He could now face a life sentence in prison.
The FBI said that Daniel had sent around $5,000 to the person who killed Brent—the hit man went unnamed in the FBI’s press release—and had planned to make another payment in the future.
In a statement, US attorney Danielle R. Sassoon said, “As alleged, Daniel Sikkema and his co-conspirator planned and carried out a cold-blooded plot to murder Sikkema’s husband, a United States citizen, in Brazil. This Office will doggedly pursue justice against those who murder United States citizens, whether at home or abroad.”
