Prosecutors urge life sentences for Alexander luxury real estate brokers in sex trafficking case
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday urged a New York judge to send two of the nation's most successful luxury real estate brokers and their brother to prison for life for drugging and raping dozens of women over a two-decade stretch, while defense lawyers recommended 15-year terms.
The lengthy written submissions by both sides precede the sentencing later this month of twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 39, and Tal Alexander, 40.
The brothers were convicted in March of multiple charges including sex trafficking, which carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison.
“As the evidence makes clear, the defendants are serial rapists who violated woman after woman and girl after girl for years upon years,” prosecutors wrote. They said they had identified at least 70 victims who were raped or sexually assaulted by at least one of the defendants.
Defense lawyers said the brothers apologize to the women they insulted or offended for conduct they admit was “insensitive toward the feelings of certain women at certain times,” but they added that all three “steadfastly maintain their complete innocence of these awful charges.”
Oren and Tal Alexander, once known as real estate’s “A Team” for their high-ticket sales and celebrity clientele, face sentencing Oct. 27 along with Alon Alexander, who ran their family's private security company.
Prosecutors said the brothers began sexually assaulting women as early as 2001 or 2002, when they were in high school. As the years passed, the government said, they developed a pattern of drugging and raping women who they enticed to join them on luxury getaways.
“The defendants felt empowered to take whatever they wanted from any woman or girl who agreed to get on a plane, go to a party, or sit at their table at a nightclub,” prosecutors said.
Once sexual assaults began, the brothers “seemed to prefer — when the women protested, struggled to get free, or lay lifeless in front of them,” prosecutors said.
Eleven women testified at their trial, with many of them describing being raped or sexually assaulted after they became disoriented and lost control of their bodies after being given a drink by one of the brothers.
Prosecutors noted that the Probation Office has recommended that each defendant serve 15 years for each victim they raped, which would result in 180-year sentences for Alon and Tal Alexander and 195 years in prison for Oren Alexander.
Defense lawyers described the brothers as “dedicated husbands and fathers” and said they had all lived “lives very different than what was portrayed at trial” for years prior to their 2024 arrests. They have been jailed ever since.
The defense submission projected confidence that the brothers will do well on appeal, saying the evidence was “remarkably weak” on critical points and that the men faced “overwhelming prejudice” as a result of Judge Valerie E. Caproni's decisions about what evidence the jury saw.
“We fight against injustice,” they wrote.
The lawyers also urged Caproni to see the brothers as “human beings, not the monsters falsely portrayed in Court and in the media.”
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
