A Massachusetts prosecutor agreed to pay an undercover FBI agent $50,000 to “advise” on the murder of his ex-wife during a nasty custody battle; The judge sentences him to 10 years

A federal judge sentenced a Massachusetts lawyer to 10 years in prison for paying a hitman to murder his ex-wife.

Allen Gessen, 49, was convicted of murder for hire after evidence revealed he tried to hire an undercover FBI agent, whom he believed to be a contract killer, to murder his former partner and mother of his two children, Priscilla Chigariro.

He and Chigariro were embroiled in a long-running dispute that led to a contentious custody proceeding, federal prosecutors said.

Gessen’s murder plot began to take shape in the summer of 2022, when he began dating the undercover agent and sharing details of his failing co-parenting relationship. He thought the agent was an assassin with extensive government connections that he wanted to use to get rid of Chigariro and gain full custody of his children.

Gessen originally planned to illegally deport Chigariro from the U.S. and wanted to pay the agent $100,000 to arrange the deportation. He then realized that murder was a “cheaper way to get rid of her” and a more everlasting solution.

He admitted to the agent that he had already tried to hire someone to kill Chigariro once. Prosecutors said he paid a hit team from a foreign country to go to Massachusetts, conduct reconnaissance and surveil her. When the team told him it might cost one other $210,000 to commit the murder, Gessen called it off.

Gessen paid the secret agent a deposit of $25,000 in the form of a $2,000 gold coin and an amount of $23,000 by wire transfer to a checking account in San Francisco. He planned to pay one other $25,000 after carrying out the murder. He entered into a written agreement with the agent detailing false “advisory services” to mask the true nature of the funds, after which sent the agent details of his former partner’s whereabouts, schedule and lifestyle.

A federal grand jury indicted Gessen in July 2022. He was a licensed attorney in New York at the time. Chigariro said she was shocked when FBI agents arrived at her home after Gessen was charged.

“I can’t even describe how I felt in that moment,” Chigariro said in January 2023. a series of videos on YouTube tells the story of his marriage. “I just remember this feeling… I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like I stopped feeling anything. I was very confused. I couldn’t digest it. I couldn’t understand it. You didn’t want to sink into it.”

In the five-episode vlog series, Chigariro said that she and Gessen lived in Zimbabwe, where she was a model for a time, and in Russia after they were together. She indicated that there was violence on this relationship and recalled one time when Gessen hit her so hard that she “passed out.” There were also longer periods when Gessen kept her son away from her.

After a week-long trial in May 2023, a federal jury found Gessen guilty. After serving his sentence, he’ll spend three years on supervised release.