Beverly Hills man admits hiring hitman to kill ex-girlfriend
A Beverly Hills man thought he was hiring a hitman to kill his ex-girlfriend. Instead, he’s heading to jail. A press release from the Department of Justice on Monday said Scott Quinn Berkett entered a guilty plea to one count of use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire, according to PEOPLE. In October 2020, the woman, whose identity has not been released, flew to Los Angeles to see Berkett, 25, after meeting him online, according to the Department of Justice. “Berkett appears to have responded saying ‘consider this matter closed,'” the DOJ wrote. Berkett confessed that later that month he looked for a hitman on the dark web “and paid for murder-for-hire services.” “I’d like it to look like an accident, but robbery gone wrong may work better. So long as she is dead. I’d also like for her phone to be retrieved and destroyed irreparably in the process,” Berkett wrote using the screen name “Ula77,” according to a previous news release from the DOJ in May 2021, PEOPLE reported. “As payment for the victim’s murder, Berkett (sent) the darknet group Bitcoin payments totaling approximately $13,000,” the DOJ wrote in Monday’s release. In May 2021, an undercover FBI agent “contacted Berkett while posing as the hitman Berkett believed he had hired. The agent sent Berkett photos of the woman and Berkett “confirmed that the pictures showed his intended victim and that he had made Bitcoin payments to obtain her murder.” Berkett then asked for “proof of her murder” and gave the agent a final payment of $1,000 through Western Union. His sentencing is set for Sept. 12.
