Alexander brothers are convicted of sex trafficking : NPR
This photo provided by the Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Alon Alexander, left, and Oren Alexander, both accused of sex trafficking.
AP/Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
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AP/Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
NEW YORK — Three brothers, including two of the country’s most successful luxury real estate brokers, were convicted of sex trafficking Monday after a five-week trial on charges that they drugged and raped dozens of women they dazzled with their wealth and opulent lifestyle.
The verdict came after 11 women testified in Manhattan federal court that they were sexually assaulted by one or more of the brothers: twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 38, and Tal Alexander, 39. All three shook their heads as the jury foreman declared them “guilty” 19 times in a row, a powerful verdict that could put them behind bars for the rest of their lives.
Tal Alexander let his head fall into his crossed arms. Their stunned parents sat in the gallery behind them. Alon Alexander’s wife shielded her face with her hand and appeared to hold back tears.
Judge Valerie E. Caproni set sentencing for August 6. The brothers, imprisoned since their arrests in 2024, will appeal the verdict, their lawyers said.
“We believe in the innocence of our clients and we will not stop fighting until we win, and we believe we will win one day,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said outside the courthouse.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton hailed the verdict as vindication for victims of crimes that often go unreported and unpunished.
“The truth is that sex trafficking and other federal sex crimes are present in many areas and we have not done enough to eradicate it,” Clayton said in a statement.
Dozens of women say they were drugged and assaulted
The verdict represents a dramatic fall for Oren and Tal Alexander, once known as real estate’s “A Team” because of their high sales and celebrity clientele. After breaking sales records at industrial powerhouse Douglas Elliman, the brothers launched their own business. Alon Alexander ran their family’s private security business.
The victims testified that they met the brothers at nightclubs, parties and on dating apps, and were attacked after accepting their invitations to all-expenses-paid getaways to the Hamptons; Aspen, Colorado; and a Caribbean cruise. More than 60 women claim they were raped by one or more brothers, according to prosecutors.
Defense attorneys suggested the accusers had faulty memories or were hoping to profit from the brothers’ fortune. The brothers were womanizers, their lawyers admitted. But they insisted that all sex was consensual.
In addition to the main charges, Alon and Tal Alexander were also convicted of sex trafficking of a minor, while Alon and Oren Alexander were convicted of sexual abuse aggravated by force or intoxicants and sexual abuse of a physically incapacitated person. Oren Alexander was also convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor after prosecutors showed the jury a video he recorded of himself appearing to molest a 17-year-old drug addict.
Lawsuits Reveal Open Secret in Real Estate World
Besides the criminal case, the brothers have faced about two dozen lawsuits over the past two years, including one filed last week in which Tracy Tutor, a star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” alleges that Oren Alexander drugged and assaulted her while she was in New York for a real estate event.
When the first of the lawsuits was filed, several women came forward, claiming they had also been assaulted and that the brothers’ misconduct was an open secret in the real estate world. The government took note of this and opened criminal proceedings.
During the trial, many women who testified said they believed the brothers had spiked their drinks. Some described feeling like they had lost control of their body.
A woman said she met the brothers in 2012 at a party at actor Zac Efron’s Manhattan apartment. She said she had almost no interaction with the actor, who was not accused of any wrongdoing, and that she went to a nightclub later that night before waking up naked with a naked Alon Alexander standing over her.
“I don’t want to sleep with you,” she told him. “Haha, you already did that,” she recalled responding as he “laughed in my face.”
Testimony Challenges Claim Money Motivated Allegations
Prosecutors rejected the idea that the accusers hoped to profit from the prosecution. Only two of them have pending cases, prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa told jurors, and both are wealthy.
A woman who testified said she was raped by Alon Alexander in Aspen, Colorado, in 2017, when she was 17 years old. She said she was the daughter of a billionaire.
“I don’t want their money. I just don’t want them to have it,” she told jurors.
Lindsey Acree, an artist and gallerist, testified that she was raped by Tal Alexander and another man at a Hamptons home in 2011 after having a drink that left her paralyzed.
The woman said she filed a lawsuit last year, even though she would “never need their money” because the Alexanders “continued to call us gold diggers, hustle artists, crooks.”
“If there’s a kid with a stick who keeps hitting people, you take the stick away,” she told the jury. “Money is their stick, so you take it away so they can’t hurt people anymore.”
The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they choose to come forward publicly, as Acree and Tutor have done.
