Beverly Hills man has pleaded guilty to hiring Hitman on the dark web to kill a woman he only briefly dated.
Scott Queen Burkett of Beverly Hills has admitted to paying $13,000 in bitcoins to trick a killer into killing a woman he met online in 2020.
A Beverly Hills man pleaded guilty to hiring an assassin to kill a woman he met online, authorities said.
A Justice Department statement said Monday that Scott Quinn Burkett had pleaded guilty to charges of using interstate equipment to murder for hire.
In October 2020, the unidentified woman flew to Los Angeles to meet 25-year-old Burkett after meeting her online, according to the Justice Department.
The woman claimed he became "sexually aggressive" and made several attempts to end the relationship with him after the trip.
The following April, one of the woman's relatives learned that Burkett was still trying to reach her and contacted Burkett's father via phone calls and text messages.
"Berkett appears to have responded by saying, 'Think this matter over,'" the DOJ wrote.
Burkett admitted later that month that he was "searching the dark web for a killer" and paying rent for homicide services.
"I want it to look like an accident, but a baffling robbery might be better. While he's dead, "I'd also like his phone to be retrieved and irreparably destroyed in the process," Burkett wrote, using the alias "Ula77," according to a Justice Department press release previously dated May 2021. He also shared the woman's personal information, email address, and social media profiles, down to the details of her unique tattoo.
"As payment for the victim's murder, Berkett [sent] bitcoin payments to the dark net group totaling approximately $13,000," the DOJ said in a statement Monday.
In May 2021, an undercover FBI agent "contacted Burkett while posing as an assassin who Burkett believed had been hired by the Dark Nets."
Agents sent Berket photos of the woman, and Berket "confirmed that the photos were of the victim and that he had made a bitcoin payment for killing her."
Berket then demanded "evidence of his murder" and handed the agent a final payment of $1,000 via Western Union.
The verdict is set for September 12. Burkett faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
The Justice Department declined to comment further, and it was unclear whether Berkett had an attorney comment on his behalf.