Sergio Pino wrote letters, made changes to a trust the day before his suicide amid FBI raid

As federal agents closed in on Sergio Pino, new court records show he may have been getting his affairs in order as he prepared to take his life.

Before his death by suicide last month, the wealthy Miami-Dade real estate developer had been under a federal investigation looking into whether he hired men to threaten and attempt to kill his estranged wife, Tatiana Pino.

In depositions taken earlier this month, Pino’s girlfriend and one of his lawyers both said Pino had been behaving normally in the days before his suicide on July 16, after FBI agents showed up to execute a search and arrest warrant at his Cocoplum home. But they, along with Pino’s brother, who was also deposed, detailed actions Pino took that could be seen as preparations for the end of his life.

Those depositions indicate that the day before he killed himself, Pino was drafting letters, setting aside money to pay bills, amending and signing statements of authority for multiple development projects, and changing the successor trustees for one of his trusts.

When asked why she thought Pino would have been making changes to trusts and other entities that day, Nancy Pastor, Pino’s longtime girlfriend and business associate, said, “Sounds like he wanted to make sure that everything was in order.”

In the weeks before his death, Pino had repeatedly denied the murder-for-hire allegations. In a note to his employees obtained by the Miami Herald and dated July 15, he doubled down, maintaining his innocence.

“I love You all from wherever I am,” Pino wrote. “I promise you that I never tried to hurt anyone.”

He also suggested that he did not plan to let himself be arrested.

“I am not going to lose my freedom,” he wrote in the same note.

Carlos Pino said before his brother’s death, Sergio had written him a letter saying that he loved him and that he was innocent. The letter also asked Carlos Pino to take care of their father, Carlos said during his deposition. Carlos Pino is the longtime president of the family business, Century Plumbing Wholesale.

Tatiana Pino’s lawyer asked during the deposition if Carlos Pino had read the letters his brother wrote for his daughters, his son-in-law and his employees. Carlos Pino said he had not.

Pastor testified that she had also received a note from Pino, a declaration of innocence, from Pino’s secretary. She said she did not remember if the letter was dated.

In the note to employees dated July 15, Pino instructed his employees to “Support Pedrito,” presumably referring to Pedro Hernandez. Hernandez is the managing director and VP of construction and land development for Century Homebuilders Group, the company Pino grew into the largest Hispanic-owned home builder in the country.

On July 15, Pino also changed the successor trustees of one of his numerous trusts. The trust, which initially included just Hernandez and Pino’s son-in-law, Karl Neuman, was changed to include three other Century employees as well. Neuman is married to Pino’s daughter Carolina and is the sales and marketing director for Century Homebuilders Group, according to the company’s website.

Attorney Eugenio Duarte, who assisted Pino as he made the changes, said his client was not behaving strangely on July 15, testifying that “the last time I spoke to him he was acting like normal.” He said in his last phone call with Pino, his client was his usual self — “very charismatic and very respectful.”

Duarte recalled that final conversation during his deposition. He and Pino had originally planned to meet in person on July 15 to sign the documents related to the trust. But Duarte said Pino “was hesitating” before their scheduled meeting, so he offered to send the documents to Pino’s office.

“And he said, ‘Oh, I appreciate that. I’m very busy today.’ And that was it. That was the last time I spoke to him,” Duarte testified.

That day, Pino also made changes to statement of authority documents for a number of his development projects, Duarte testified.

On July 15, Pino also set aside money to pay for his father’s medical bills, Pastor testified. She said Pino had given her an envelope with money to pay his father’s doctor. But even then, Pastor said she did not suspect he would kill himself the next day.

“I had absolutely no reason to believe that there was anything going on,” Pastor said during a deposition earlier this month. Pastor said he did not appear agitated when she saw him that day.

The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released Pino’s autopsy report. Pino was cremated following an open-casket viewing and wake late last month. The viewing was held on July 25 at the Caballero Rivero funeral home in Westchester. That afternoon, his brother hosted a wake for Sergio at Carlos’ home in the South Miami area.

According to people familiar with the gathering, Sergio Pino had created a guest list that included a few hundred family members, friends and colleagues. The rags-to-riches son of Cuban immigrants, Pino had choreographed the food, drinks, music and atmosphere to reflect his heritage. The guests, many wearing guayaberas, dined on croquetas, lechon asado and arroz con habichuelas as the tunes of Pino’s favorite Cuban American singer, Willy Chirino, played in the background.

But what struck some guests as odd was the open casket. Pino, wearing a baseball cap, a red shirt and shorts, was on display both at the funeral home and at his brother’s house.

Pino’s will was signed in March. Tatiana Pino, who has spent the past two years in the throes of a contentious divorce case with her husband of 30 years, is now contesting the will, claiming that her husband’s attempts to have her killed betrayed an unstable mental condition that should invalidate the document altogether.

Sergio Pino had numerous trusts at the time he signed his will. Tatiana was not a beneficiary of any of those trusts, Duarte said during a deposition earlier this month.

Carlos Pino testified about turmoil within Century Homebuilders following his brother’s death. When Sergio was alive, Tatiana Pino owned 50% of Century Homebuilders Group, and Carlos Pino testified that she is now claiming she owns it in its entirety, something he vehemently rejects. Tatiana Pino is now listed as president of the company on the Century website.

The dispute between Carlos Pino and Tatiana Pino is part of a larger conflict. Uncertainty over the distribution of marital assets began during the divorce proceedings and has persisted in probate court. Now, a longer list of heirs, including Sergio Pino’s four children, will be taken into consideration as the estate is divided up.

Tatiana Pino filed for divorce in April 2022, when she came to believe her husband had been poisoning her with fentanyl. She had just returned from a stay at Johns Hopkins University, where doctors detected the drug in her system after years of unexplained health issues.

FBI charging documents released after Pino’s death indicate that investigators believe he did attempt to poison his wife.

Tatiana Pino also accused her husband of orchestrating threats that began after she filed for divorce, including a hit-and-run at her Pinecrest home, multiple arsons at her sister’s residence and a threatening letter. Most recently, she accused her husband of contracting an armed attack at her house in June.

On June 23, as Tatiana Pino was arriving home from church, a man later identified as Vernon Green charged at her with a gun in her driveway, according to the FBI. She escaped, driving her car into her backyard and honking her horn. When her adult daughter heard the commotion and came outside, Green brandished the gun at her, too, according to FBI charging documents.

Green has pleaded not guilty.

“We are planning to vigorously defend the case,” Richard Serafini, Green’s lawyer, told the Herald.

The day after the attack, federal agents raided Sergio Pino’s home for the first time.

Nine people have been arrested in connection with the allegations, including Bayron Bennett, who worked on the Pinos’ yacht. In his final note to employees, Pino blamed Bennett for the attacks.

“Bayron is a criminal but the fact that he used to work for me creates a doubt,” he wrote. Bennett, who was arrested in March, has pleaded not guilty. A representative for Bennett’s legal team said they did not wish to comment on the allegations.

A motion signed by Pino and filed by his divorce lawyer about two weeks before Pino took his life detailed his distress over the allegations, which became public after the FBI’s first raid in June.

“Mr. Pino has been humiliated in front of his children, his family, his colleagues, his employees and his friends,” the motion read. “Mr. Pino is overwhelmed and distraught by these false accusations.”

Even after his death, motions filed in the divorce case show Pino’s legal team has maintained his innocence. One motion called the allegations “scandalous, immaterial, and impertinent” to the divorce case.

It’s unclear what exactly Pino knew leading up to the moment federal agents arrived at his home early on July 16. The day before, Pino had talked to Fausto Villar, one of the men later arrested in the murder-for-hire plot, for about three minutes on WhatsApp, according to investigators. They also exchanged WhatsApp messages. Agents had a search warrant for cellphone call logs and messages between the men, but they could not listen in on their conversations.

The call between Villar and Pino took place shortly after Avery Bivins, another defendant in the alleged murder-for-hire plot, agreed to take part in a monitored phone call with Villar, according to FBI charging documents.

In the July 15 phone conversation, Villar warned Bivins that federal investigators might connect “the first attempts” to threaten Tatiana Pino — the hit-and-run and the arsons — with the second attempt outside her home in June involving the gunman, leading to a possible “conspiracy” charge against all of the suspects, according to FBI criminal complaints and affidavits.

Villar told Bivins “to take care of his people” in the second crew, implying he needed “to keep them in line” and that they would be rewarded for their loyalty. By then, three other suspects in that crew had already been arrested: Clementa Johnson, his cousin, Vernon Green, and another associate, Diori Barnard.

Barnard was arrested on drug and gun charges on June 25. Johnson was arrested July 2 in connection with the FBI’s murder-for-hire probe, but his complaint wasn’t unsealed until July 19. Green was arrested on July 15.

Villar also said that Pino had expressed concern about their arrests and that they might be talking to investigators, according to FBI charging documents.

Villar “instructed Bivins to make sure” the three arrested suspects “did not give [them] up,” suggesting they try to position the armed attack on Tatiana Pino as a botched robbery, the FBI documents say.