NEW YORK (AP) — The estranged husband of a prominent New York City art dealer was convicted Friday of hiring a hitman to kill him in Brazil.Daniel Sikkema, 55, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Brent Sikkema, 75, was found stabbed to death in his Rio de Janeiro townhouse in January 2024.Daniel Sikkema, a U.S. and Cuban citizen who lived in New York, was arrested in April 2024. He was convicted in federal court in Manhattan of charges including murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death.The alleged hitman was arrested in Brazil, where he remains jailed.“Amid contentious divorce proceedings with his then-husband, Daniel Sikkema used a burner phone line to callously order the killing of his husband,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said.Clayton described Brent Sikkema’s killing as a “senseless, cold-blooded murder” and said the verdict brings a “meaningful measure of justice.”
A message seeking comment was left for Daniel Sikkema’s lawyer.Brent Sikkema had amassed a multimillion-dollar estate and owned a Manhattan contemporary art gallery that became Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, which says on its website that it has represented international artists like Kara Walker, Vik Muniz and Arturo Herrera for nearly 30 years.
