Sergio Pino, one of the biggest Hispanic home builders in the country, killed himself early Tuesday morning after FBI agents went to his Cocoplum home as part of what the agency called a “murder for hire” probe into threats made against Tatiana Pino, his estranged wife.
A famous investor had a shocking end. The federal government was looking into whether he was linked to a group of men charged with stalking and threatening his wife of more than 30 years during a contentious divorce. FBI agents raided Pino’s Coral Gables home and office in late June, which made shocking headlines about the couple’s divorce. In their divorce file, the couple talks about alleged poisonings, car fires, and a drive-by shooting at Sergio Pino’s home in the past few years. Four men, one of whom worked for Sergio Pino, were arrested earlier this year for making threats against Tatiana Pino and her sister, which included setting fires hitting someone, and then running away.
FBI agents went to Sergio Pino’s Coral Gables neighborhood early Tuesday, weeks after the first raid. They were there as part of a “search and arrest” operation connected to an investigation into murder for hire that began in the fall of 2023, according to a statement from Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri. According to the FBI, a SWAT team went into Pino’s house after calling out to anyone inside and not getting a reaction. Veltri said that Pino, who was 67 years old, killed himself with a gun and that FBI officers found him “alone in an upstairs bedroom.”
As part of the operation, police also searched another home in Cutler Bay. Veltri said that one person was caught, but he did not say what the suspect’s name was or give any other information.
Pino’s criminal defense lawyer said bad things about the FBI’s moves in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
Lawyer Sam Rabin said, “Sergio Pino killed himself today.” “The amount of police activity at his house was unprecedented and not needed, especially since we had offered to turn him over if that became necessary.” The events of today are a very sad end to a study that we were sure we could defend well. Lots of claims and stories were made, but there wasn’t any proof.
Pino, who started Century Homebuilders Group and has been a well-known builder and political donor in Miami-Dade County for decades, said he had nothing to do with what happened with his wife.
It was a shocking scene in Cocoplum that happened Tuesday morning when FBI agents went back to Pino’s house, where the couple used to live together. Coral Gables police cars shut off Isla Dorada Boulevard, which is where the house is, for most of the morning. Beginning at 9:30 a.m., loud bangs could be heard from about a block away, and they stopped every 15 minutes. Two helicopters flew over the waterfront home, which is close to the Cocoplum Yacht Club.
Coral Gables Fire Rescue showed up around 10 a.m. with their lights on. After thirty minutes, an ambulance drove off with its lights on but no alarm. A car from the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office showed up around 11:30 a.m.
Later, the office of the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner reported that Pino had died at 10:20 a.m. in his home on Isla Dorada Boulevard.
From the area that police blocked off on Tuesday morning, you couldn’t see the house.
A person in the neighborhood told the Miami Herald that the police around the house looked calm, with their guns pointed at the ground. The person said that they heard cops say over the megaphone that they were going to break down the front door.
Raymond Rafool, Tatiana Pino’s lawyer, refused to say anything Tuesday afternoon. “Given the situation, we’re not going to say anything right now,” he said.
Four men from Miami-Dade County were arrested earlier this year for making threats and attacking Tatiana Pino and her sister. One of them was an employee of Sergio Pino. Bayron Bennett, who worked setting up food and drink service on Sergio Pino’s boat, is accused of getting Michael Dulfo, Edner Etienne, and Jerren Howard to do a hit-and-run at Tatiana Pino’s house and several arson attacks at her sister’s house. The four guys have said they are not guilty.
Tatiana Pino’s car was hit by a rented Home Depot trailer as she pulled into her driveway in August 2023, after a day of divorce procedures. Also, three cars were set on fire at Tatiana Pino’s sister’s house in two different incidents.
Tatiana Pino’s divorce lawyer said in a doc made on July 5 that there had been another “attempt on Ms. Pino’s life just weeks ago at her home.” Pinecrest police won’t give out the report from that event because it’s part of a federal investigation that is still going on.
Tatiana Pino told the judge that she thought her husband had tried to poison her, which was the cause of her health problems. That claim was refuted by Sergio Pino.
He also said in court that he had been threatened while the divorce was going on.
Sergio Pino said that someone shot at his Coral Gables home a month after Tatiana Pino filed for divorce. He also said that he had been getting threatening phone calls around that time.
Sergio Pino said that someone set fire to his car in September 2023, not long after the hit-and-run at Tatiana Pino’s house. He said that about a year before that, someone had messed with another one of his cars.
