Comment on South Florida man pleads guilty to murder-for-hire after paying undercover agent

A Boynton Beach man who thought he was hiring a hitman but instead unknowingly paid an undercover agent has pleaded guilty in federal court to murder-for-hire. Makram Khashman, 58, was arrested earlier this year, after a confidential informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reported that Khashman was looking for a hitman. The informant relayed the information to an undercover ATF agent, who posed as the hitman Khashman unknowingly gave $5,000 to in exchange for the murder of a person who he said stole over $1 million from him and a business from him, according to a criminal complaint filed in March. Khashman admitted that he met with the undercover agent in late February and that he told the undercover agent he did not care how the intended target was killed, federal prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday. During that first meeting in Plantation, Khashman said “he was in the streets with his family” because the person had stolen $1 million from him and a business worth $3 million, the plea agreement document said.