Three brothers — twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 38, and Tal Alexander, 39, once celebrated as two of the nation’s most successful luxury real estate brokers — were convicted of sex trafficking Monday in Manhattan federal court following a five-week trial in which 11 women testified they had been sexually assaulted by one or more of the men. The jury foreperson said “guilty” 19 straight times. Judge Valerie E. Caproni set sentencing for Aug. 6 on convictions that could keep the brothers behind bars for the rest of their lives.
The verdict ends a case prosecutors say exposed an open secret in the luxury real estate world, with more than 60 women alleging the brothers drugged and assaulted them over more than a decade. All three brothers, jailed since their 2024 arrests, said through their lawyers they intend to appeal.
NEW YORK — Three brothers, including twins who were once among the nation’s most prominent luxury real estate brokers, were convicted of sex trafficking Monday in Manhattan federal court following a five-week trial in which 11 women testified they had been sexually assaulted by one or more of the men.
The jury foreperson said “guilty” 19 straight times as twins Oren Alexander, 38, and Alon Alexander, 38, and their older brother Tal Alexander, 39, stood before the court. All three shook their heads as the verdicts were read. Judge Valerie E. Caproni set sentencing for Aug. 6 on convictions that could keep the brothers imprisoned for the rest of their lives.
The brothers, who have been jailed since their 2024 arrests, said through their lawyers they intend to appeal.
“We believe in our clients’ innocence and we’re not going to stop fighting until we prevail, and we believe that we will one day prevail,” defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said outside the courthouse.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton issued a statement calling the verdict a vindication for victims of crimes that often go unreported and unpunished.
“The truth is sex trafficking and other federal sex offenses are present in many walks of life and we have not done enough to root it out,” Clayton said.
A fall from the top of the real estate world
Oren and Tal Alexander had built reputations as real estate’s “A Team” — a pair known for high-ticket sales and celebrity clients at industry firm Douglas Elliman before starting their own brokerage. Alon Alexander ran the family’s private security company.
Prosecutors said the brothers used that wealth and social prominence to draw women to all-expense-paid trips to the Hamptons, Aspen, Colorado, and a Caribbean cruise, where they allegedly drugged and attacked them. Victims testified they met the brothers at nightclubs, parties, and on dating apps. More than 60 women have alleged they were raped by one or more of the brothers, according to prosecutors.
Defense lawyers argued the accusers had faulty memories or were motivated by the brothers’ considerable fortunes. The brothers were womanizers, their lawyers conceded — but they maintained any sexual contact was consensual.
Breadth of charges
Beyond the central sex-trafficking counts, the jury returned additional guilty verdicts across a range of charges. Alon and Tal Alexander were each convicted of sex trafficking of a minor. Alon and Oren Alexander were convicted of aggravated sexual abuse by force or intoxicant and sexual abuse of a physically incapacitated person.
Oren Alexander was separately convicted of sexually exploiting a minor after prosecutors showed the jury a video he had recorded of himself that appeared to show him assaulting a drugged 17-year-old.
Witnesses describe the assaults
One woman testified she met the brothers at a Manhattan party in 2012, went with them to a nightclub later that night, and woke up naked with Alon Alexander standing over her.
“I don’t want to have sex with you,” she testified telling him. “Haha, you already did,” she recalled him replying as he “laughed in my face.”
Lindsey Acree, an artist and gallery owner who chose to come forward publicly, testified she was raped by Tal Alexander and another man at a home in the Hamptons in 2011 after accepting a drink that left her feeling paralyzed. Acree said she filed suit not for financial reasons but to deprive the brothers of resources she said they used to harm women.
“If there’s a kid with a stick who keeps hitting people, you take their stick away,” she told the jury. “Money is their stick, so you take it away so they can’t hurt people anymore.”
Prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa challenged the defense’s suggestion that accusers were seeking payouts, telling jurors only two of the women who testified had pending civil lawsuits — and both are wealthy.
One witness said she was 17 years old when Alon Alexander raped her in Aspen in 2017 and described herself as the daughter of a billionaire.
“I don’t want their money. I just don’t want them to have it,” she told the jury.
Civil litigation preceded the criminal case
The criminal investigation grew out of civil lawsuits. When the first suits were filed, multiple additional women came forward saying the brothers’ conduct had been an open secret in the luxury real estate world. Federal prosecutors then opened a criminal case.
The brothers now face approximately two dozen civil lawsuits. Among the most recent, filed last week, is a suit by Tracy Tutor, a cast member of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” who alleges Oren Alexander drugged and assaulted her while she was in New York City for a real estate industry event.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they choose to come forward publicly, as Acree and Tutor have done. Main Street Independent follows the same practice.