This photo provided by the Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Alon Alexander, left, and Oren Alexander, both of whom have been charged with 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 nation’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 multiple women with the help of their wealth and lavish lifestyle.
The verdict came after 11 women testified in Manhattan federal court that they were sexually assaulted by one or more of their brothers: twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 38, and Tal Alexander, 39. All three nodded their heads as the jury foreperson said “guilty” 19 times in a row, a powerful count that could put them behind bars for the rest of their lives.
Tal Alexander put his head into his crossed arms. His stunned parents were sitting in the gallery behind him. Alon Alexander’s wife hid her face with her hands and appeared to be fighting tears.
Judge Valerie E. Caproni set sentencing for Aug. 6. The brothers, who have been jailed since their arrest, will appeal the decision in 2024, their lawyers said.
Defense attorney Mark Agnifilo said outside court, “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.”
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton praised the verdict, saying it was vindication for victims of crimes that often go unreported and unpunished.
“The truth is that sex trafficking and other federal sex crimes exist in many walks of life and we have not done enough to root it out,” Clayton said in a statement.
Dozens of women say they were drugged and attacked
The decision represents a spectacular fall for Oren and Tal Alexander, who were once known as real estate’s “A Team” for their high ticket sales and celebrity clients. After breaking sales records at industry powerhouse Douglas Elliman, the brothers started their own firm. Elon Alexander ran his family’s private security company.
The victims testified that they met the brothers at nightclubs, parties and on dating apps, and were attacked after accepting their invitations to an all-expenses-paid vacation in the Hamptons; Aspen, Colorado; And a Caribbean cruise. According to prosecutors, more than 60 women say they were raped by one or more of their brothers.
Defense lawyers suggested that the accusers had impaired memory or were hoping to take advantage of the brothers’ fortune. His lawyers believed that the brothers were womanizers. But he stressed that any sex must be consensual.
In addition to the top charges, Alon and Tal Alexander were also convicted of sex trafficking of a minor, while Alon and Oren Alexander were convicted of aggravated sexual exploitation by force or intoxication and sexual exploitation of a physically disabled person. Oren Alexander was also convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor after prosecutors showed the jury a video in which he recorded himself assaulting a drunken 17-year-old.
Lawsuits expose an open secret in the world of real estate
In addition to the criminal case, the brothers have faced nearly two dozen lawsuits over the past two years, including one filed last week in which Tracy Tutor, star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” accuses Oren Alexander of drugging and assaulting her while she was in New York City for a real estate event.
When the first lawsuit was filed, several women came forward claiming that they too had been attacked, and the brothers’ misconduct was an open secret in the real estate world. The government took cognizance and opened a criminal case.
During the trial, several women who testified said they believed the brothers had spiked their drinks. Some people felt as if they had lost control of their bodies.
A woman testified that she met the brothers at a party at actor Zac Efron’s Manhattan apartment in 2012. She said she had almost no interaction with the actor, who was not accused of any misdeeds, and that she had gone to a nightclub the night before, where a naked Alon Alexander stood over her.
“I don’t want to have sex with you,” she told him, she testified. “Haha, you’ve already done that,” she recalled him saying when he “laughed in my face.”
Testimony challenges claims money led to charges
Prosecutors rejected the idea that the accusers were hoping to profit from the trials. Prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa told jurors that only two have pending trials, and both are wealthy.
A woman who testified said that Elon Alexander raped her in Aspen, Colorado, in 2017 when she was 17 years old. She said that 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 gallery owner, testified that Tal Alexander and another man raped her after she had drinks at a Hamptons home in 2011, knocking her unconscious.
The woman said she filed the lawsuit last year even though she “would never need their money” because Alexanders “kept calling us gold diggers, shake down artists, con artists.”
He told the jury, “If a kid keeps hitting people with a stick, you take his stick away.” “Money is their stick, so you take it so they can’t hurt people anymore.”
The Associated Press does not generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual harassment unless they choose to come forward publicly, as Acree and Tutor have done.
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