MIAMI (WSVN) - A federal jury found a 36-year-old former Florida International University student guilty of plotting to kill a federal prosecutor, an FBI agent and multiple witnesses involved in his earlier cyber harassment case, officials said.
Anthony Brillante II was convicted of attempted murder of a federal employee, solicitation to commit a violent crime, murder-for-hire using interstate facilities, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Brillante’s murder-for-hire scheme unfolded just before the start of his cyber harassment trial in October 2023.
Prosecutors said he paid $40,000 to arrange the murders of the Assistant U.S. Attorney, the FBI Special Agent who investigated him and the victims of his previous case.
On Oct. 29, 2023, Brillante met with an undercover FBI agent posing as a hitman and discussed carrying out the killings the day before his trial was scheduled to begin, the DOJ said.
Despite the attempt to obstruct the case, Brillante was convicted in the cyber harassment trial and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Brillante was originally arrested in August 2022 for targeting family members in New York and Texas with tens of thousands of threatening calls and messages between 2021 and 2022.
Victims included his cousin, her husband, and their 12-year-old daughter, as well as other relatives in Texas. Messages included graphic threats to kill them, authorities said.
Sentencing in the murder-for-hire case is set for Oct. 1.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.