FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – A South Florida man arrested in March after authorities accused him of paying an alleged hitman to attempt a murder for a business rival pleaded guilty Tuesday, prosecutors said.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Makram Khashman, 58, of Boynton Beach pleaded guilty to one count of murder for hire in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. He could spend up to a decade in prison.
Authorities said Khashman, who worked in manufacturing, thought the plantation had an encounter on Leap Day with a hit man who wanted to take $5,000 to kill a business rival at a Parkland warehouse.
Instead, they said an undercover agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did it.
An ATF confidential informant connected the pair after Khashman approached the informant about committing a murder in exchange for money.
Authorities said that during a Feb. 29 encounter in the area of 120 S. Pine Island Road, Khashman told an undercover agent that he “was on the street with his family who (the intended victim) took over a million dollars and from (him) a three-million-dollar business.” .
Court documents say Khashman told the agent he “didn’t give a damn” about how he killed the victim and said he wanted the victim to “go away.”
The two agreed to a price of $5,000, and Khashman and the undercover agent met again at the Plantation on March 19, where Khashman gave the agent an advance of $2,500 toward the job.
Prosecutors said that after the agent confirmed to Khashman that he “wanted the victim dead,” Khashman replied tersely, “No…”.
He said the victim “ruined her life and that she was willing to ‘do it herself’ and ‘didn’t give a damn,’” the criminal complaint says.
Authorities said the two discussed a final meeting during which Khashman would pay the remaining $2,500 after providing “photographic evidence of the crime.”
They then separated and Khashman was arrested a week later.
Prosecutors said Khashman will be sentenced on January 7.
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