A Boynton Beach man entered a guilty plea for a murder-for-hire charge after his plans, which included making payments to an individual he believed was a hitman, were foiled by the fact that the supposed assassin was actually an undercover ATF agent. Makram Khashman, 58, was arrested and charged earlier this year, following his attempt to orchestrate the murder of a business rival who he claimed had significantly wronged him financially and personally.
After negotiating the terms of the murder and providing a $2,500 upfront payment with a promise of an equal amount upon completion, Khashman was taken into custody, as reported by NBC Miami. During the planning stages, Khashman met with the undercover agent in Plantation, detailing his target's life patterns including work schedule and vehicles. The victim, according to Khashman, had cost him and his family their home and business, which he valued at around $3 million.
The operation began after a confidential informant tipped off the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that Khashman was in the market for a contract killer, as per the information released by federal prosecutors and aggregated by Sun-Sentinel. The informant's identity has been kept undisclosed for safety reasons. The undercover agent, once in contact with Khashman, affirmed the irreversibility of the crime, to which Khashman tersely replied, acknowledging the permanence of the action and expressing his readiness to perform the act himself if necessary. Having admitted to the charge of utilizing interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, Khashman faces a sentence of up to ten years in prison, with the sentencing set for Jan. 7, 2025.
