‘Cheaper way to get rid of her:’ Attorney sentenced in murder-for-hire plot

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A wealthy attorney was sentenced in a San Francisco courtroom this week for hiring someone to murder his ex during a contentious child custody dispute.

Allen Gessen, 49, was sentenced to serve 120 months in prison for paying an undercover FBI agent $50,000 in exchange for murdering the mother of his young children, United States Attorney Ismail Ramsey said. The 10-year sentence was handed down by U.S. Northern District of California Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley.

Gessen’s original plot against his estranged partner was to bribe immigration agents to deport his ex back to her home country, prosecutors said.

Gessen believed that he could get full custody of his two children if their mother was deported, investigators said. “Gessen initially agreed to pay the undercover FBI agent $100,000 to accomplish the bribery and deportation scheme. Gessen explained he could justify the expenditure because he would pay more in child support if his former partner remained in the United States,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote.

He later decided that a “cheaper,” and more permanent, plan to make her go away was to hire someone who would kill her, prosecutors said.

At the time, Gessen was an attorney licensed in New York. In the summer of 2022, Gessen met with an undercover FBI agent on two occasions, first in Boca Raton, Florida, and then again in New York City. During the meetings, Gessen explained that he was embroiled in a years-long legal battle over custody of their son and daughter.

“Gessen’s objectives quickly transformed from bribing an immigration official to deport his former partner, to hiring someone to murder her. Gessen resolved to murder his former partner because it was a ‘cheaper way to get rid of her’ and was a more permanent solution,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote.

At the meetings and through a series of encrypted electronic messages, Gessen initiated plans to commit crimes utilizing the undercover FBI agent’s connections. Gessen gave the agent a “target package” containing details about his ex, including her photograph, social media accounts, home address, boyfriend, friends, vehicle, and lifestyle, court records show.

Gessen agreed to pay a $25,000 deposit and have the remaining $25,000 be due after her murder was completed, investigators said.

“The trial evidence established that Gessen wired a total of $23,000 to an FBI undercover bank account in San Francisco. Gessen also sent to the undercover FBI agent a written agreement containing a promise to pay for phony ‘consulting services’ as a method to disguise the true nature of the funds,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote.

A federal grand jury indicted Gessen in the summer of 2022, charging him with one count of murder for hire. The case was prosecuted by the Corporate and Securities Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Gessen was ultimately convicted following a one-week jury trial at the federal courthouse in San Francisco.

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