A high-powered Miami lawyer, his influencer daughter and a Hawaiian surf instructor have all been accused of attempting to hire a hit man to kill a Los Angeles singer who was a member of a 2010s boy band, according to a criminal complaint made public Tuesday afternoon.
Francisco Gonzalez, his daughter, Gabriela, and Kai Cordrey were all charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder, according to the complaint. The target of the plot was Jack Avery, who was once a member of L.A.-based boy band Why Don’t We, court records show.
Gabriela Gonzalez, 25, and Avery have a 7-year-old daughter together, and were involved in a custody dispute, according to court filings.
In 2021, Gabriela Gonzalez began portraying her ex-lover as an “unfit” and “dangerous” parent during court proceedings, according to the criminal complaint. In March 2021, the court filing says, she openly spoke about “wanting Jack Avery dead and discussed hiring a hitman to kill him.”
Around the same time in 2021, the complaint says, her father, a high-powered Miami attorney, began texting Cordrey, a Hawaii-based surf instructor who was Gabriela’s new partner. Francisco Gonzalez, 59, allegedly told Cordrey, 26, to recruit someone to threaten or harass Avery, according to the complaint. They settled on Dustin Barca, a retired MMA fighter living in Maui, court records show.
The criminal complaint did not accuse Barca of any wrongdoing. He did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
Cordrery and Gabriela then turned to the dark web. Under the alias “LizardKing69,” Cordrey began communicating with someone he believed to be an assassin, according to the complaint. Francisco Gonzalez sent Cordrey a total of $14,000 to hire the hitman, which Cordrey then paid through the dark web account, according to the criminal complaint.
Within months, Cordrey and Francisco Gonzalez found themselves communicating with an undercover FBI agent posing as the hitman. At one point, Cordrey told the undercover agent that “Jack Avery’s ex-girlfriend” wanted the job done and that her father could cover all expenses, according to the complaint.
Gabriela Gonzalez was arrested last week and is expected to be arraigned Thursday. Several of her relatives showed up during a brief court hearing in downtown L.A. on Tuesday, but declined to speak with reporters. Her attorney, Elliot Zarabi, also declined to comment.
Francisco is currently in police custody in Florida, authorities said. Cordrey’s status was not immediately known.
Attorneys for the other defendants were not yet listed in court records.
A spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles referred all questions to the district attorney’s office. The Times could not immediately reach a representative for Avery.
The elder Gonzalez is a native of Venezuela who works at the Florida-based law firm Shahady & Wurtenberger, where he specializes in international cases, according to his biography on the law firm’s website.
A representative for the firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Francisco Gonzalez’s personal Instagram account is home to posts questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election and a picture with his arm around U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator.
Gabriela has 473,000 followers on an Instagram page that shows her surfing and sunbathing around Maui. She is also wildly popular on TikTok for her lifestyle posts, according to TMZ.
Avery was a member of Why Don’t We, which released three albums to moderate success in the late 2010s. He is in the process of launching a solo career and dropped the single “XOXOX” earlier this year.