Murdered NYC art dealer’s estranged husband facing ‘urgent’ extradition to Brazil after killer says he ordered $200K hit
The estranged husband of a murdered multimillionaire Manhattan art dealer is facing “urgent” extradition to Brazil on suspicion of ordering his murder, The Post has learned.
Daniel Garcia Carrera, 53, is suspected of paying for his estranged husband, Brent Sikkema, 75, to be stabbed to death at his winter home in Rio de Janiero in January, a judge in the city ruled.
Brazil’s justice department must make a formal request to the Department of Justice in Washington DC for Garcia Carrera’s extradition — although he is already out on bail after being arrested in an FBI dawn raid on his Manhattan apartment amid claims he was planning to flee the country.
In a March 25 ruling, Rio judge Tula Correa de Mello formally sought the help of the Brazilian justice ministry in demanding the “urgent” extradition, according to police in the city.
The judge set a hearing for Garcia Carrera — a former male prostitute with whom Sikkema shared a son, now 13 — on June 3 at 3 p.m. in Rio, according to court documents seen by The Post Wednesday.
Sikkema, 75, died from multiple stab wounds in the bedroom of the rowhouse he owned in Rio’s tony Jardim Botanico neighborhood on January 15, a day before he was to return to New York City.
Alejandro Triana Prevez, a Cuban national living in Sao Paulo, was charged with his murder.
But Triana Prevez told detectives that Carrera ordered the hit, promised him $200,000 and couriered him a key for Sikkema’s Rio home, the Brazilian press reported.
Rio police released video footage from a nearby property that, they say, shows Triana surveilling Sikkema’s residence in the city’s Botanical Gardens neighborhood for 14 hours before the murder before entering the home.
Garcia Carrera, who now has sole custody of the couple’s 13-year-old son, Lucas, was arrested in a pre-dawn FBI raid on his Kips Bay home last month and charged with lying on a passport application for the teenager, The Post revealed.
Federal prosecutors said they believed Garcia Carrera was a flight risk and asked for him to be jailed but he was released on a $1 million bond, and is required to wear an ankle bracelet.
Sikkema, who partied with Michelle Obama and represented including artists Kara Walker and Vik Muniz had removed his husband from his will in May, 2022, two months after Garcia Carrera filed for divorce in Manhattan State Supreme Court, The Post exclusively reported.
The divorce had not been resolved at the time of Sikkema’s death earlier this year, according to court filings.
Sikkema left $1 million in trust to another ex-lover, and the bulk of his estate, which includes a $2.8 million apartment in Chelsea as well as his interest in his gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co. to his son.
But Lucas Sikkema will only be able to secure half of his inheritance after he turns 30 and the remainder after he turns 40, according to the will.
In addition to his New York holding, Sikkema owned multiple homes in Cuba and Rio de Janeiro as well as a sprawling property on Fire Island that was held in trust for Garcia Carrera, according to public documents reviewed by The Post.
A defense attorney for Garcia Carrera refused comment to the Post Thursday. His lawyer in Brazil said she would fight any attempt to extradite her client, who is now the sole caregiver for the couple’s teenage son, she said.
“We are committed to defending the innocence of Mr. [Garcia Carrera] Sikkema,” said Fabiana Marques in a statement to Rio news site G1.
