FBI releases details after developer Sergio Pino found dead – NBC 6 South Florida

FBI officials planned to release more details at a press conference Wednesday after well-known Miami-Dade home builder Sergio Pino was found dead in his home amid an ongoing investigation, authorities confirmed.

The FBI conducted a search and arrest operation on Tuesday at Pino’s $8 million home in Coral Gables, 142 Isla Dorada Blvd.

“Upon arrival, members of the FBI Miami SWAT team attempted to call all residents of the home. When there was no response, the SWAT team entered the home and conducted a systematic search to locate the individual. Eventually, Mr. Pino was discovered alone in an upstairs bedroom,” the FBI said in a statement.

Pino was found dead there; he had inflicted a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the agency said.

Authorities lifted a large black tarp to cover the body, then it was carried on a stretcher from the house directly to the coroner’s car.

“The final determination of the cause of death will be made by the medical examiner,” the FBI said.

Authorities lifted a large black tarp to cover the body, which was taken on a stretcher from the house directly to the coroner’s car. Although authorities did not confirm the deceased’s identity, Pino’s lawyer said he had died.

The investigation was related to an ongoing murder-for-hire investigation that has been ongoing since fall 2023, according to authorities. Although the FBI did not release further details, Tatiana Pino was the victim of a hit-and-run accident outside her Pinecrest home on August 30, 2023, as she was returning from a hearing in her divorce case. This is one of the criminal investigations ongoing in connection with their separation.

The FBI also conducted another operation at 9720 Bel Aire Drive in Miami on Tuesday. There, the FBI said, “the subject was arrested without incident and the location was searched.”

Further information was not initially provided.

Sergio and Tatiana Pino were married for 32 years. The allegations – including poisoning, arson and stalking – are part of an ongoing federal investigation that has already led to the arrest of four people, including a man Tatiana Pino identified as one of the couple’s co-workers on their yacht.

No charges have been filed against Sergio Pino, but the FBI confirmed that it searched the couple’s home in the affluent Cocoplum neighborhood and their business premises in June as part of an ongoing investigation.

“From everything I have learned in the two years I have represented Sergio, there is nothing to suggest that he ever harmed or intended to harm his wife. He was a gentle and kind man who was loved and respected by the many people he employed in his businesses. He loved his children and grandchildren and rarely spoke of anything else,” Sergio Pino’s attorney, Deanna S. Shifrin, said in a statement to NBC6 on Tuesday. “I believe the combination of needlessly destructive divorce proceedings and selective and offensive media coverage was humiliating for him and led to this tragedy.”

On Tuesday, at least a dozen police vehicles were seen outside the house. Windows were smashed and residents reported hearing stun grenades. The public was asked to avoid the area.

Pino runs a Miami-Dade construction empire largely under the auspices of the Century Homebuilders Group, which is the largest Hispanic-owned developer in the country, according to its website. He was president of the politically influential Latin Builders Association.

Over the decades they spent together, Tatiana often appeared at his side on official occasions, but the public image of a happy, wealthy couple began to fade when she filed for divorce in April 2022.

If you see the word “century” in a construction project in Miami-Dade, it probably started with the Pino family and owes great wealth to Sergio Pino and his company.

One financial statement cited during his testimony in the November 2023 divorce proceedings put his and Tatiana’s joint net worth in 2021 at $359 million; another presented in the same testimony put it at $153 million. Pino testified that he created the larger net worth statement as a “joke” that included “made-up” numbers and said the smaller net worth statement was accurate.

Whatever the amount, the question of how much of it Tatiana is rightfully entitled to is the subject of a two-year divorce battle. That battle is now the subject of a federal criminal case in which four men are charged with a “stalking conspiracy.”

Surveillance video shows a rented pickup truck from Home Depot waiting outside her house. As she arrives, the truck goes into reverse and spins backward, accelerates, hits her passenger door and speeds away.

One of the defendants, Michael Dulfo, who investigators say was connected to the rental of the Home Depot home, later told investigators he was “hired” to commit the crime by someone working for the opposing party in the Pino divorce proceedings, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.

No charges have been filed against developer Sergio Pino, but the FBI confirmed it had searched the couple’s $8 million Coral Gables home and business premises as part of an ongoing investigation.

And when Tatiana was questioned about possible suspects, she recognized one of them – 32-year-old Bayron Bennett – as someone who had worked on the Pinos’ yacht, according to the FBI.

The criminal complaint against Bennett says he admitted to inciting Dulfo to drive a car and setting three vehicles on fire outside Tatiana Pino’s sister’s home in 2022 and 2023. He told officers someone asked him to look for others who might commit crimes against Tatiana, the complaint says, which does not specify who that “someone” might be.

When asked generally what was going on here, Tatiana’s attorney Raymond Rafool ​​​​told NBC6 that this was ultimately a matter for the FBI.

“That’s the subject of the investigation,” he said. “And what’s going on is what they’re determining, but I think it’s pretty clear to everyone what’s going on.”

Sergio Pino’s attorney, Deanna Shifrin, said in a statement to NBC6 that at least one thing is clear: Sergio Pino is innocent.

“We can state categorically that Mr. Pino was not involved in any of the conduct he was accused of,” Shifrin said.

You can find further information about the divorce process here.

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.