The business relationship soured soon after the fraudulent purchase. Boulis allegedly clashed over the falsified wire transfer with an Abramoff associate. Abramoff was mostly a silent partner, but both he and his partners used SunCruz funds to pay for numerous personal expenses. Boulis also alleged that one of Abramoff's partners had links to organized crime. The relationship between Boulis and Abramoff's partners grew so contentious that he had a fistfight with one of them at a business meeting in December 2000, with both parties allegedly making threats. Boulis was shot to death in Miami two months later in February 2001, in what police called "a gang style hit". A lawsuit brought by Boulis' estate alleges that an Abramoff associate made three payments of $10,000 to Anthony Moscatiello immediately prior to the murder.