Murdered art dealer disinherited male prostitute he married— but gave $1M from property empire to another ex-lover
Murdered Manhattan art dealer Brent Sikkema disinherited his estranged husband, a former male prostitute, from his multimillion-dollar estate before he died — and gave another ex-lover $1m in his will, The Post has learned.
Sikkema, 75, was brutally stabbed to death at his winter home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in January, the day before he was due to return to his lavish Chelsea apartment.
His estranged husband, Daniel Garcia Carrera, 53, is now a suspect in the murder, according to Brazilian authorities, and was arrested by the FBI in a dawn raid on his Kips Bay home last month, which was exclusively revealed by The Post.
He was released on a $1m bond and has to wear an ankle bracelet after prosecutors pleaded for him to be kept behind bars in case he flees the country.
In a 26-page will written two years before he was murdered, Sikkema ordered that Carerra Garcia inherit nothing and wrote, “I anticipate that I will not be married at the time of my death.
“Nonetheless, for the avoidance of doubt, I specifically and fully disinherit Daniel Sikkema a/k/a Daniel Garcia Carrera regardless of whether he is my legal spouse at the time of my demise or not.”
But Garcia Carerra, who was still married to Sikkema when he died — despite the divorce proceedings beginning in 2022 — has hired an attorney to contest the will, court records show.
The attorney, Dan Timins, declined to comment to The Post.
Sikkema did leave $1 million to another ex-lover, Carlos Ramos, who he had helped emigrate from Cuba to the US, court records show.
The cash is to be used for a trust which will pay him up to $75,000 a year for life, records show. Calls to Ramos were not returned on Monday.
Sikkema, an art world luminary who partied with former first lady Michelle Obama was a principal in Sikkema Jenkins & Co., a gallery that counts Kara Walker and Vik Muniz among its artists.
His estate includes his private art collection, his 50 percent stake in the gallery, $1m in his bank accounts — and a property empire that spans three countries and two hemispheres.
Sikkema lived in a sprawling three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment worth more than $2.8 million in Chelsea, close to his gallery.
He also owned the rowhouse in the tony Jardim Botanico district of Rio where he was murdered.
Just before his death, he had also bought an apartment in Rio de Janeiro’s beachfront Leblon neighborhood.
And he had a series of properties in Cuba. He owned a mansion in the Kohly district of Havana that he had bought for another of his lovers and a penthouse in the city’s beachfront Vedado neighborhood, according to a report in the country.
But in 2012, Garcia Carrera was given the $1.7m 2,800 square foot beach house on Fire Island, New York, which Sikkema had bought in 2003 for $950,000.
It is held in trust for Garcia Carerra, giving him use of the 1971 L-shaped home designed by Moroccan architect Marcel Bretos in 1971 for a vice president of American Airlines.
It features handmade French tiles, a pool, and outdoor seating for 18 guests as well as built-in American Airlines ashtrays beside each toilet.
Sikikema, 75, had been married to Garcia Carrera, a former Cuban male prostitute who worked in Havana and Madrid, for more than 15 years. The couple had a son, Lucas, by surrogate in California, who is now 13 years old.
The marriage fell apart in March 2022, when Garcia Carrera filed for divorce and called the police after Sikkema allegedly changed the locks on the Chelsea property.
Lucas stands to inherit the bulk of his estate, which includes Sikkema’s stake in Only Be, the company that controls his art gallery, as well as an undisclosed number of works of art and a 2012 Land Rover.
He will not receive any payouts until he reaches the age of 30, when he will be entitled to 50 percent of the proceeds. By age 40, he stands to inherit the remainder, the will says.
His other father, Garcia Carerra, was charged by federal prosecutors with lying to try to obtain a new US passport for Lucas in an apparent bid to flee the country. He has entered no plea.
In Brazil, the man charged with Sikkema’s murder, Cuban national Alejandro Triana Prévez, 30, allegedly told police that Garcia Carrera had organized the hit, sent the key to Sikkema’s home and promised him $200,000.
Garcia Carrera’s criminal attorney, Richard Levitt, declined to comment to The Post.
Sikkema’s will also instructed that he be cremated and his ashes scattered over his favorite places in the world.
“To the extent possible, I wish to have my ashes scattered between the Jardim Botanico in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and/or the beach waters off Santa Maria in Playa del Este,” which is in Havana, he said.
