Florida lawyer Francisco Gonzalez, 59, was taken into custody Monday in Seminole County on a California warrant charging conspiracy to commit murder, and is being held without bond pending extradition.
Court records say investigators tied the alleged plot to a custody battle over Jack Avery's 7-year-old daughter, with witnesses saying Gonzalez wanted Avery out of the child's life and said it would be cheaper if he were dead.
Detectives cited bank records, family messages and private-investigator activity, including two $10,000 payments allegedly disguised as web-development fees and surveillance of Avery in Kauai to gather damaging information.
Federal agents also recorded Gonzalez speaking with an undercover operative posing as a killer about confirming the target and arranging payment, while witnesses said the killing was to occur in Los Angeles and look like a car crash.
The affidavit says the evidence goes beyond family hostility, linking Gonzalez through witness statements, coded communications and direct undercover contact to an agreement to kill the former Why Don't We singer.
How did a lawyer allegedly become the mastermind in a murder plot against his own grandchild's father?
What role did social media fame play in escalating a custody battle into a deadly murder-for-hire conspiracy?
What does this case reveal about the hidden dangers lurking within high-conflict celebrity custody battles?