Last week, a Florida man was found guilty by a federal jury for orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot targeting a federal prosecutor and an FBI agent. He also attempted to eliminate the victims involved in a cyber harassment lawsuit against him, which was pending trial.
As detailed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Anthony Brillante II, age 36, was facing trial for cyber harassment accusations. It was reported that he had utilized numerous spoofed phone numbers to bombard three victims—his cousin, her husband, and their 12-year-old daughter—with tens of thousands of calls and messages over a 15-month stint from 2021 to 2022. These included explicit threats to their lives.
Threats conveyed in the messages included promises to shoot them in the face and run them over with a vehicle. During this period, the family resided in New York, while Brillante was primarily a student at Florida International University. Investigations revealed he also directed similar threats towards another cousin and her husband residing in Texas.
Brillante was arrested in August 2022. In October 2023, investigators said, Brillante paid $40,000 toward his plot to kill the prosecutor and FBI agent in the case, as well as the family members.
On October 29, 2023, the day before his trial was to begin, he met someone he thought was a hitman but was actually an undercover FBI agent.
Brillante’s harassment trial went on as planned, and he was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Now he’ll receive new sentencing after he was convicted on charges of attempted murder of a federal employee, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice. The sentencing is scheduled for October 1.
