Art World Murder-for-Hire Plot Ends in Conviction for Gallerist’s Husband

NEW YORK — A federal jury in Manhattan has convicted the estranged husband of a prominent New York City art dealer for orchestrating a cold-blooded murder-for-hire plot that stretched from the streets of Manhattan to a luxury townhouse in Brazil.

​Daniel Sikkema, 55, now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison after being found guilty on charges including murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death. His victim and estranged spouse, 75-year-old Brent Sikkema, was a legendary figure in the contemporary art scene and co-founder of the prestigious Manhattan gallery Sikkema Malloy Jenkins.

​The elder Sikkema was discovered dead in January 2024 inside his Rio de Janeiro residence—a place he fondly referred to as his urban “oasis.” Investigators revealed that he had been stabbed 18 times in the early hours of January 14, a brutal end that sent shockwaves through the global art community.

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​ValidViewNetwork reports that federal prosecutors successfully painted a picture of a murder driven by unadulterated greed during the five-day trial. According to court records, the couple was entangled in an exceptionally bitter, prolonged divorce and a fight over a multimillion-dollar estate. Prosecutors presented a chilling audio message from December 2023 in which Daniel Sikkema stated, “Let’s see if… instead of getting divorced, I end up a widower, which would suit me much better.”

​Daniel used a burner phone line to maintain frequent contact with the hitman, identified as Alejandro Triana Prevez, a Cuban national working as a security guard and delivery driver in Brazil, ValidViewNetwork reports.

Authorities discovered a selfie Prevez took inside Brent’s kitchen, and prosecutors proved Daniel had funneled approximately $10,000 to him with the promise of more cash once the job was finished. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Pavlis told the jury that Daniel openly bragged to acquaintances that he would net far more money from his husband’s death than he ever could through a divorce settlement.

​”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 in a statement following the verdict. Clayton praised the collaborative efforts of the FBI and international authorities, adding that the conviction brings a “meaningful measure of justice” for a “senseless, cold-blooded murder.”

​The defense, led by attorney Florian Miedel, attempted to argue that the federal case was entirely circumstantial. Miedel asserted that the $10,000 transferred to Prevez was simply payment for independent work Prevez had performed for the family in Cuba.

​“Life is messy. The truth is not always obvious,” Miedel told the jury during opening statements. Following Friday’s verdict, Miedel expressed deep disappointment and announced plans to appeal, stating that Daniel is “staying strong and hopes to be vindicated in the end.”

​Brent Sikkema’s storied career began in 1971 at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York, before he opened his first gallery in Boston in 1976. By the early 1990s, he co-founded the Manhattan gallery that would represent vanguard international artists such as Kara Walker, Vik Muniz, Arturo Herrera, and Sheila Hicks. Friends remembered him as a visionary who “thought outside of the box.”

​While Daniel Sikkema awaits his mandatory life sentence in the United States, Prevez remains jailed in Brazil awaiting his own trial. The former couple shares a teenage son.