The husband of late New York art gallery owner Brent Sikkema is in federal custody in New York on passport fraud charges.
Daniel Sikkema, also wanted in Brazil for the murder of Brent Sikkema on January 16, was arrested on Wednesday.
A court filing by the investigating FBI agent found that Daniel Sikkema “willingly and knowingly” lied on a lost passport application he submitted for the couple’s son.
The request was submitted around February 8, three weeks after the prominent art gallery owner was stabbed to death at his Rio de Janeiro home by Alejandro Triana.
Triana was arrested on January 15 and confessed to the murder, telling investigators that Daniel Sikkema had offered to pay her $200,000 to commit the murder.
A Southern District of New York official told DailyMail.com that Daniel Sikkema was waiting to be released with a GPS monitor on his ankle.
Daniel Sikkema (left), husband of the late New York art gallery owner Brent Sikkema (right), was arrested Wednesday in New York on passport fraud charges. He is expected to be released on bail Thursday and will be required to wear a GPS monitor at all times. Brazilian authorities have charged Daniel Sikkema with the murder of Brent Sikkema on January 16.
Alejandro Triana of Cuba told authorities in Rio de Janeiro that Daniel Sikkema offered him $200,000 to murder her husband, Brent Sikkema, an art gallery owner in New York. Triana said she used a key Daniel Sikkema allegedly mailed to her from the United States to enter Brent Sikkema’s home in Rio de Janeiro, where he stabbed him to death on January 14.
Daniel Sikkema and Brent Sikkema initiated custody proceedings in May 2023 for their 13-year-old son and in January began reviewing their divorce agreement. As part of the custody agreement, Brent Sikkema was in possession of the boy’s Spanish and U.S. passports.
On January 21, Daniel Sikkema’s lawyer went to Brent Sikkema’s apartment and was denied access by the building’s management. The lawyer called the executor of the art gallery owner and asked for permission to enter the premises to collect the travel documents. The lawyer was informed by the executor that he had custody of the passports, had placed them in a safe in the apartment and had refused to hand them over to him.
Five days later, Daniel Sikkema emailed the executor saying he needed the boy’s expired Spanish passport.
“I have to order the new passport and, as a condition, I have to hand over the expired one,” wrote Daniel Sikkema.
Prominent New York art gallery owner Brent Sikkema with former First Lady Michelle Obama
Daniel Sikkema (left) and the late Brent Sikkema (right) with their son, now 13. Daniel Sikkema was arrested on passport fraud charges in New York on Wednesday and is expected to be released on bail on Thursday.
He said he also needed the boy’s U.S. passport because they would be traveling abroad.
After Brazilian authorities charged David Sikkema with the murder of Brent Sikkema, the enforcer appeared in New York State Family Court on February 15 and requested custody of the boy, stating that he feared that David Sikkema would flee with the boy to Cuba. . The request was rejected by the court on March 5.
The executor removed the passports from the safe later in February and handed them over to Daniel Sikkema’s lawyer on March 14.
However, the FBI learned that Daniel Sikkema applied for a U.S. passport and provided a lost or stolen passport report on behalf of his son on February 8.
In the statement, Daniel Sikkema claimed the boy lost his US passport book while on vacation with his “other father” in Europe in August 2023.
The Rio de Janeiro Civil Police and Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an order in state court requesting the arrest of Daniel Sikkema and contacted the United States Department of Justice.
Triana told Brazilian law enforcement that Daniel Sikkema did not agree with the amount of money he was offered as part of the divorce settlement and that he was concerned that Brent Sikkema’s relationship with “a Uruguayan or a Paraguayan” could dictate how the couple’s assets would be divided.
Triana met the couple in Cuba and worked for them as a handyman on their properties on the communist island. He told investigators that Daniel Sikkema was also upset that Brent Sikkema was spending “a lot of money on drugs, parties and prostitutes.”
Surveillance camera footage obtained by DailyMail.com from Gabriel Security Company showed that Triana began monitoring Brent Sikkema’s house in the Jardim Botânico neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro on January 13 around 2:30 p.m.
He entered the residence on January 14 at 3:43 a.m. with a key that Daniel Sikkema allegedly mailed to him from the United States.
Triana could be seen leaving the house at 3:47 a.m. and removing her gloves before leaving.
The autopsy showed that Brent Sikkema was stabbed 18 times, mainly in the neck and chest.
Triana was arrested on January 15 after police found him sleeping in a car in Ureaba, a town in the southern state of Minas Gerais, which borders Bolivia.