A Manhattan federal jury began deliberating Thursday in the sex trafficking case against brothers Oren, Alon and Tal Alexander, who face the possibility of life in prison if convicted. Federal prosecutors allege the three men drugged and sexually assaulted multiple women over more than a decade; defense lawyers argued the brothers were aggressive womanizers whose pursuits hurt women but did not constitute the crimes charged.
The case against Oren and Alon Alexander, 38 — twin real estate brokers known in luxury property circles as “The A Team” — and their brother Tal, 39, a private security executive, drew national attention after 11 women testified at trial. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Defense: ‘pursuing women,’ not committing crimes
In marathon closing arguments Tuesday and Wednesday, defense lawyers urged jurors to scrutinize the evidence and set aside the emotional weight of the women’s testimony.
Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Oren Alexander, told the jury the brothers’ playboy lifestyle “hurt a lot of people’s feelings,” leaving some women heartbroken and upset — and that was the real reason they were on trial.
“Not because they’re rapists. Not because they drug women. But because they have a certain combination of characteristics that have made lots of people angry with them,” Agnifilo said.
He described his clients as men in blunt pursuit of women across dating apps, nightclubs and social circuits in the Hamptons and Aspen. “They’re pursuing women. They’re pursuing women across the board,” he said. “That’s what the evidence shows. They’re not drugging them, they’re not raping them, but they’re certainly pursuing them.”
Agnifilo, who won acquittals on the most serious charges at hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial last summer, urged the jury to exercise the same judgment. “It takes courage to acquit. It does,” Agnifilo said. “And I want you guys to know that that’s what you should do here. You should have that courage.”
Deanna Paul, a lawyer for Tal Alexander, argued that prosecutors had failed to provide adequate evidence to support the charges. “You can’t build a house if you don’t have any bricks,” she said.
The blog and the prosecution’s rebuttal
Both defense lawyers challenged the government’s effort to link the brothers to a blog it said encouraged drugging and raping women. Agnifilo acknowledged the blog was “horrific” but said there was no evidence any of the brothers wrote its posts.
“There is zero proof that any of the Alexander brothers ever wrote any of those blog posts, and there is not one shred of evidence that Tal even knew it existed,” Paul said. “The government is trying to tie Tal to words that he didn’t write, on a blog he didn’t know existed, to prove a conspiracy that he was not a part of.”
In a rebuttal argument Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Espinosa said the blog was found on a computer hard drive in Tal Alexander’s apartment and reflected the defendants’ “playbook and goals.” She said it included a post titled “It’s not rape if …” that outlined justifications for assault — including that a victim was too scared or humiliated to report, had a crush on one of the brothers, could not recall details of the night, or had been left unable to fight back by drugs.
Espinosa said the brothers had not anticipated 11 women “coming forward in an avalanche of evidence.” She said defense lawyers had highlighted isolated snippets of testimony to steer the jury away from the larger picture. “Defendants’ arguments are meant to confuse and distract you,” she said. “That bigger picture is more important.”
“This is not a close case,” Espinosa said, urging guilty verdicts. The defense arguments, she said, were “all nonsense.”
New civil lawsuit filed as deliberations began
Also Thursday, Tracy Tutor, a star of “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles” on Bravo, became the latest woman to file a civil lawsuit against the brothers. Tutor alleges Oren Alexander drugged and assaulted her in a restaurant bathroom while she was in New York for a real estate event. The allegations, her opponent said, are more than a decade old.
Jason Goldman, a lawyer representing Oren Alexander in civil litigation, said Tutor and her attorneys “have timed the filing of this salacious and demonstrably false lawsuit for maximum media impact.” Goldman said the allegations had already been aired publicly.