Developer Sergio Pino Found Dead By Apparent Suicide During FBI Raid Of His Home
Sergio Pino, the prolific homebuilder being investigated in connection with a murder-for-hire plot involving his estranged wife, is dead after an apparent suicide.
The death occurred Tuesday morning as FBI agents descended on his Coral Gables neighborhood as part of a search and arrest operation.
Pino was the founder of Century Homebuilders Group and a major donor in Miami and Republican politics. A SWAT team entered Pino’s home at 142 Isla Dorada Blvd. on Tuesday morning, and FBI agents discovered him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the FBI said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
Sam Rabin, Pino’s attorney, criticized the FBI’s actions, saying that he had offered to surrender Pino to authorities if necessary.
"Sergio Pino took his own life today," Rabin told The Herald. "The level of law enforcement activity at his residence was unprecedented and unnecessary."
Pino had threatened to kill himself, and law enforcement was attempting to talk him down, The Real Deal reported. CBS reported that he shot himself as the SWAT team entered the home. A person in the neighborhood told the Miami Herald that police had approached the house calmly with their weapons pointed at the ground.
The FBI didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment.
Pino was reportedly being investigated by the FBI for attempting to poison his wife, Tatiana Pino, or pay someone to kill her as the couple navigated a messy divorce that was headed for jury trial this month.
Tatiana Pino said in court records that she began suffering unexplained health problems in 2019 that persisted until she left the marital home in 2022.
A Johns Hopkins epidemiologist eventually found fentanyl in her system and tests revealed bath salts in her medication, The Real Deal reported. Tatiana Pino, 55, pointed the finger at her husband, and Pino denied the allegation in a later deposition.
Pino’s divorce attorney previously told TRD that "there is absolutely no evidence to support" the poisoning claim.
Century Homebuilders was founded by Pino in 1995 and has built more than 15,000 homes across South Florida and more than 60 multifamily and condo properties. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Law enforcement also raided a home in Cutler Bay as part of the operation.
Agents are also looking into allegations that Pino had recruited Bayron Bennett, a food and beverage service worker on Pino’s yacht, to hire a team to murder his wife after she filed for divorce in April 2022, the Herald reported.
The FBI was investigating claims that Bennett recruited three men, Michael Dulfo, Edner Etienne and Jerren Howard, to carry out multiple attacks against her, according to the Herald. The four men were arrested and had pleaded not guilty, and Pino had yet to face any charges.
A Home Depot trailer rammed Tatiana Pino’s car in August 2023, and three vehicles at her sister’s residence have been set ablaze in two arson incidents, the Herald reported. Her divorce attorney said in a July 5 court filing that another attempt had been made on her life "just weeks ago in her home."
Sergio Pino had himself said someone had shot at his home, that he received threatening calls and that someone had set one of his cars on fire. Rabin told the Herald he and Pino were confident that any allegations would be proven false.
"Today’s events mark a very tragic ending to an investigation that we were confident we could successfully defend," he said.
