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Prominent real estate agents and brothers charged with sex trafficking

NATALIE KEYSSAR/THE NEW YORK TIMES
                                Oren Alexander, left, and his brother Tal Alexander, right, in Manhattan, in September 2022. The two were arrested along with Oren’s twin brother, Alon Alexander, today, in Miami. Federal prosecutors charged them with participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy.

NATALIE KEYSSAR/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Oren Alexander, left, and his brother Tal Alexander, right, in Manhattan, in September 2022. The two were arrested along with Oren’s twin brother, Alon Alexander, today, in Miami. Federal prosecutors charged them with participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy.

MIAMI >> Federal prosecutors in New York City have charged two-star luxury real estate brokers and their brother with participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy. They are accused of drugging, sexually assaulting and raping dozens of women, according to an indictment made public today.

The three are Oren Alexander, his older brother Tal Alexander, who until this summer were real estate agents in New York and Miami, and Alon Alexander, Oren’s twin, who did not work in real estate.

They were arrested at various residences in and near Miami Beach today. The twins also face separate state felony charges of sexual battery connected to three separate assaults, according to arrest warrants obtained by The New York Times.

According to the federal indictment, Alon and Tal had conspired in the sex trafficking scheme since at least 2010. The brothers used their wealth and positions to create and take opportunities to rape and sexually assault women.

The brothers conspired with other men to arrange events and domestic and international trips to use as bait to recruit, entice and transport multiple women, whom they later raped, the indictment says.

The federal charges are expected to be announced later today in Manhattan by Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James E. Dennehy, the head of the FBI’s New York office.

The arrest warrants against Oren and Alon Alexander include details of three sexual assaults, in 2016, 2017 and 2021. All three incidents involve Oren Alexander; only the 2016 incident involves Alon Alexander. In that incident, the twins face a charge of sexual battery by multiple perpetrators.

Several women have filed lawsuits against the men accusing them of sexual assault. Kate Whiteman, a former marketing executive, brought the first lawsuit against Oren and Alon Alexander. She said that she met the two men at a Manhattan nightclub in 2012. As she was leaving, they forced her into an SUV and drove her to the Hamptons, where she said she was assaulted at Sir Ivan’s Castle, according to her lawsuit.

In 2016, according to the warrants, Alon Alexander invited a woman in New York to a barbecue in a Miami Beach condo. When she arrived, she was the only guest.

Alon Alexander gave the woman a tour of the condo and led her to the bedroom, the woman later told the Miami Beach Police Department. Two women who appeared to be housekeepers left the room, leaving the woman with Alon Alexander, Oren Alexander and a cousin, Ohad Fisherman. Both brothers sexually assaulted her, the woman told police. The cousin helped hold her down. Fisherman, 39, who also faces a sexual battery charge, remains at large.

In 2017, a woman said that Oren Alexander messaged her on Instagram and asked to hang out on the beach. There, the woman met him, Alon Alexander and other family members. A few weeks later, the woman had dinner with Oren Alexander and a friend of his, and then the three headed to a real estate event. Afterward, he took her to the same Miami Beach condo where the 2016 incident took place.

Inside the apartment, he asked her if she wanted to try on virtual reality goggles. She agreed. Oren Alexander then removed her dress, moved her into the bedroom and pushed her onto the bed and assaulted her, she told police.

In the weeks later, she met with Oren Alexander again, this time at a hot tub and near his building’s spa, where she asked for an apology. He tried to kiss her and masturbated over her, she told police.

The woman told friends about what happened and Oren Alexander got wind of it. In 2018, he sent her a text message saying: “Nothing happened. If you keep talking about it, I’m going to ruin you.”

The 2021 incident involved a woman who told police that she had met Oren Alexander at dinner with a friend. They went to a Miami Beach house, where Oren Alexander poured her a drink and began to kiss her on the couch. He then led her into a bedroom. There, he took off her shoes, kissed her and then ripped her dress. She tried to leave, but was unable to.

Once she returned to his bedroom, he assaulted her, the warrant says.

Tal and Oren Alexander’s reign as real estate princes came to an abrupt end in June when The Real Deal, a real estate trade publication, first reported that women had filed lawsuits that claimed they were sexually assaulted by the brothers.

Two women sued Oren and Alon Alexander for assault; a third woman sued the twins along with Tal. In the wake of those suits, dozens of other women came forward with allegations of assault against the brothers, including in the Times.

Those women included Tracy Tutor, a top broker at Douglas Elliman Beverly Hills and one of the stars of the reality TV show “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles.” Seven of the women who spoke to the Times said they believed they had been drugged, describing a fog that erased or clouded their memory.

Allegations of sexual assault had trailed the brothers since they were teenagers.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2024 The New York Times Company

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