The last two defendants charged in a years-long murder-for-hire plot against Tatiana Pino went on trial Monday in Miami federal court, facing charges of murder-for-hire conspiracy, stalking and firearm offenses tied to a scheme prosecutors say her estranged husband, developer Sergio Pino, spent years trying to carry out. Clementa Johnson and Diori Barnard are the final two of nine men charged in the case, with the trial beginning at 9 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham.
A Plot Rooted In A Bitter Divorce
The case traces back to 2022, when Tatiana Pino filed for divorce from Sergio Pino, the former head of Century Homebuilders Group, according to the Miami Herald. The divorce turned bitter after Pino offered her a $20 million settlement that she rejected, citing a 1992 prenuptial agreement she said entitled her to half of an estate valued between $150 million and $360 million, as The Real Deal reported. Century Homebuilders, headquartered in Coral Gables, built more than 16,000 homes across South Florida and became one of the largest Hispanic-owned homebuilding companies in the country.
Prosecutors allege Pino organized two separate crews to intimidate, attack and attempt to kill his wife, per the Herald’s reporting. Conspiracy allegations included an attempted poisoning with cyanide, arsenic and fentanyl, stemming from unexplained medical episodes Tatiana Pino suffered between 2019 and 2022 — nausea, foaming at the mouth and heart distress severe enough to require a cardiac pacemaker — that led her to tell federal authorities she believed her husband had poisoned her, The Real Deal reported.
Two Crews, Arson And A Truck Attack
The first crew, assembled by Pino’s yacht handyman Bayron Bennett and including Michael Dulfo, Jerren Howard and Edner Etienne, set vehicles on fire as part of the conspiracy and attacked Tatiana Pino with a rented Home Depot flatbed truck in August 2023, the Herald reported. Those men later pleaded guilty and received federal prison sentences ranging from three to 13 years, according to The Real Deal.
After that first crew was arrested in early 2024, federal prosecutors say Pino turned to roofer Fausto Villar to assemble a second team, offering a total payout of $300,000 — $150,000 upfront and $150,000 upon completion — with an added $50,000 bonus if the killing could not be traced back to him, according to Local 10 News. That second crew tracked Tatiana Pino across Miami-Dade and Monroe counties and at one point abandoned a plan to kill her by injection, per the Herald.
A Gun Pointed At Her Daughter’s Face
The plot’s most violent moment came on June 23, 2024, when gunman Vernon Green approached Tatiana Pino’s vehicle with a pistol outside her home and pointed the gun inches from the face of her adult daughter, Alessandra Pino, before fleeing. U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe later said Green decided not to shoot the daughter because that was not what the job entailed, according to Local 10 News. Green pleaded guilty in June 2025…