It’s been nearly five months since prominent Miami developer Sergio Pino killed himself as the FBI was moving in to arrest him for allegedly hiring men to kill his wife before their contentious divorce could be finalized.
Now the judge overseeing his estate’s probate case has an idea of his share of the fortune that was at stake: at least $115 million.
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That’s the estimated value of cash, stock, real estate, yachts, luxury cars, businesses and other properties a court-appointed curator last week attributed to Sergio Pino’s estate. It does not include undetermined values of several real estate investments Pino made.
It also does not include the $43.8 million half-share of Century Homebuilders Group LLC (CHG), which passed to Pino’s wife Tatiana when he died on July 16.
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SERGIO PINO
Tatiana Pino claims the business is hers entirely, since she formed it with him in 2013 “as husband and wife,” and Sergio had no right to unilaterally transfer his interest to others – as he did via an amended trust agreement the day before his suicide, according to a separate lawsuit Tatiana filed against the curator, Philip Shechter.
Tatiana has been running the business during the dispute, part of Miami-Dade circuit Judge Yvonne Colodny’s order to maintain the status quo while the legal battle over the estate ensues.
And in recent days, it has ensued in a big way.
Tatiana last week filed claims against the estate totaling more than $56 million, including for $30 million in damages based on what the FBI accused her late husband of doing to have her killed: “attempted murder, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress by slowly poisoning Ms. Pino with fentanyl and hiring hitmen squads, who followed Ms. Pino for days, and then brandished a firearm at Ms. Pino and her daughter,” states the claim, which attaches FBI criminal charging documents against his alleged co-conspirators in support. Those actions “caused Ms. Pino to be hospitalized on various occasions and suffer serious physical injury and emotional distress.”
As for CHG, she claims her husband “executed a sham trust agreement — months before passing away — that purports to divest Tatiana of her (lawful) interest in CHG and illegally assign, transfer, and/or convey Decedent’s membership shares in CHG (which belong to Tatiana upon his death) to the trust for the benefit of third parties. This was done without Tatiana’s knowledge or consent.”
But the curator and the trustee Sergio Pino wanted to serve as head of the trust disagree, with Shechter saying he is “duty bound to respect and assert the Decedent’s testamentary wishes and intent” as reflected in the trusts Pino set up in March and, in some cases, later amended just before his suicide. He argued Tatiana owns 50 percent and no more.
So does the trustee, Pedro Hernandez, who was one of Sergio Pino’s top lieutenants at CHG. His position, as laid out in court records: “Prior to Sergio’s death, Tatiana claimed for years that she and Sergio each owned 50% of CHG … This is contrary to the position Tatiana now asserts in this action.”
Other claims have been filed against the estate by business associates and Tatiana’s sister, whose cars were set afire, the FBI alleges, in an act of intimidation by some of the men Sergio hired to harm his wife.
As of now, a trial could be held in October 2025, lawyers have told Judge Colodny, but a settlement is always possible.
And other litigation could follow.
For instance, if the curator rejects Tatiana’s $30 million claim for damages suffered in the plot to have her killed, lawyers tell NBC6, Tatiana would have to file a separate civil lawsuit to make that case.
Calls to the curator and his attorney have not been returned.
Tatiana’s claim on behalf of herself and CHG seeking at least $15 million from the estate accuses Sergio of “dissipation and conversion of assets, fraud, usurping of business opportunities, and failure to properly pay distributions to Ms. Pino, among other violations in respect to Decedent’s management of CHG.” She says her husband “misappropriated real estate development projects after 2013, including but not limited to Midtown Doral projects claimed by Decedent to own individually, which should have and do belong to CHG.”
One piece of personal property not in dispute: $24,788.73 – cash in possession of the FBI, which alleged Sergio had already made a down payment to the “murder crews” he hired to kill his wife, promising them up to $300,000 if they got away with it without involving him in the investigation.
Nine men have been charged in the plot – all have pled not guilty, and Pino had denied his involvement up to the day he killed himself.
