A pair of high-flying “ultra-luxury” real estate brokers, along with their brother, are facing federal sex trafficking charges over a string of violent rapes and sexual assaults prosecutors believe has gone on for two-plus decades.
Oren Alexander and older brother Tal, along with Oren’s twin Alon, were arrested in South Florida on Wednesday, according to court filings unsealed today in Manhattan. The three are too dangerous to release on bail, Assistant US Attorneys Kaiya Arroyo, Andrew Jones, and Elizabeth Espinoza argued in a detailed detention motion filed alongside an eight-page indictment containing gutwrenching details of the siblings’ alleged crimes.
“As set forth above, the Alexander Brothers’ serial sexual violence began far earlier than the period of the charged conspiracy — the Government’s evidence shows that they have been raping girls and women alone, together, and with other men, over a period of at least 20 years,” the detention motion states. “Already, the Government has identified dozens of victims of the Alexander Brothers’ sexual violence, and the evidence indicates that there are more.”
The criminal charges follow a series of lawsuits filed earlier this year, in which three separate women said they had been drugged and brutally raped by the Alexander brothers. Dozens of victims have since accused the Alexanders of assaulting them as part of what prosecutors called “their sadistic sex trafficking scheme.”
The indictment accuses the three of using their “wealth and positions” in the real estate industry to facilitate their illegal activities, recruiting women at industry parties, clubs, and elsewhere. The Alexanders allegedly flew women to exotic locales they used as “bait,” and pretended they were interested in developing relationships with their unwitting victims. Instead, according to the indictment, the brothers sexually assaulted them, at times “within hours of their meeting.”
“Immediately following the sexual assaults, the defendants sometimes offered the victims material items, including travel, concert tickets, and other luxury experiences,” the indictment states.
According to the detention motion, the Alexanders “began engaging in acts of sexual violence, including gang rapes, while still in high school in Miami, Florida.”
“The Government has interviewed multiple women who report being raped by at least one of the Alexander Brothers… in the early 2000s, including victims who were raped by groups of boys including the Alexander Brothers,” the motion states. “... Each of the victims that the Government has interviewed from this period reported hearing that individuals involved — including Tal Alexander — talked about the assaults at school, boasting about ‘running train’ on their victims and saying that they wanted to ‘do it again.’”
When women resisted, the Alexander brothers “ignored their victims’ distress,” and physically restrained them in what their accusers have described as “aggressive and violent” rapes.
“Multiple women described being terrified that the Alexander Brothers were going to hurt or even kill them — these victims’ only goal in that moment became to survive,” the detention motion states. “... Indeed, multiple victims required medical assistance in the hospital after their encounters with the Alexander Brothers.”
In one example included in the detention motion, the Alexanders arranged in October 2016 to “transport multiple women to Tulum,” making plans with a group of other men in a WhatsApp chat titled “Lions in Tulum.” They discussed plans to “import” their victims, along with a plethora of drugs such as cocaine, psilocybin, and GHB, a so-called date rape drug, in order to facilitate their intended assaults, according to the motion:
Male-1 (4:17 PM): Going to start collecting for the pot to fly bitches down.
ALON (4:20 PM): There should be a fee per bang and after bang …
Male-1 (8:23 PM): Starting to collect venmo for girls flights
OREN (8:23 PM): O yea. What’s the lineup. Need to pick winners.
OREN (8:24 PM): Can’t be sponsor girls like Isis
Male-1 (8:24 PM): Lol. It’s gonna be hard to get girls up to your standard
OREN (8:27 PM): Just warn him ur boys are hungry
TAL (10:23 PM): Girls look fresh
When victims spoke up, the Alexander brothers managed to shut down further reporting of their alleged actions — in one instance, filing a police report for harassment against one woman who had been sexually assaulted by Tal while Oren was in the room, the detention motion contends. Tal further threatened the victim with a defamation lawsuit “if she did not stop telling people that he and Oren had sexually assaulted her,” it says. Another victim claimed Tal “made threatening statements to her after she told other people that he drugged her,” the motion continues.
Following the lawsuits filed against them, Alon Alexander “began compiling files on each publicly identified victim (and several who had not made public accusations) as part of an apparent attempt to discredit their accusers,” the detention motion alleges.
The Alexanders are also facing state felony charges of sexual battery, for three individual assaults, according to arrest warrants reviewed by The New York Times.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to keep the brothers behind bars to ensure the safety of the general public, and to prevent the three from fleeing, as their “ample financial resources… create significant risk of non-appearance.”
“Tal and Oren are successful real estate agents in the luxury market, have significant professional and social ties to other high-powered individuals, and regularly close large transactions that result in significant commissions,” the detention motion states. “... Alon and Oren even live in private residences with direct water access to the Atlantic Ocean. All three defendants regularly fly on private jets, a means of travel that is more difficult for law enforcement to track. In short, if the defendants wanted to flee, they have the means to do so quickly and without detection.”
The Alexanders do not yet have attorneys listed in court records, and were not able to be reached for comment on Wednesday. If convicted, all three face prison sentences of 15 years to life.
