Photos of the suspects are shown on a television screen as prosecutor Katherine Fernandez speaks during a press conference to announce that the co-founders of U.S. luxury real estate brokerage Official were arrested on sex trafficking charges at the prosecutor's office in Miami, Florida, USA, December 11, 2024 .
Giorgio Viera | Reuters
Federal prosecutors in New York accused top real estate agents Tal and Oren Alexander and their brother Alon of drugging and raping “dozens of victims” over more than a decade.
The brothers “used their wealth and positions to create and facilitate opportunities to rape and sexually assault women,” according to the recently unsealed federal indictment accusing them of sex trafficking.
At times, they “lured” women to travel destinations with luxury trips, where they then sexually abused them, the indictment says.
They also allegedly worked “together and with other known and unknown persons” to carry out the sex trafficking plan. Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, declined to specify who was still under investigation in the case.
The brothers – who were synonymous with Manhattan's luxury real estate market before allegations against them first surfaced earlier this year – were arrested in Miami on Wednesday morning.
They are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and one count of sex trafficking of a victim by force, fraud or coercion, according to the eight-page indictment in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Tal Alexander faces an additional count of sex trafficking of a victim by force, fraud or coercion.
If convicted, the brothers face prison sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.
Also on Wednesday, Florida Attorney General Katherine Fernandez Rundle unveiled separate charges against Oren and Alon Alexander in connection with alleged sexual assaults in the state.
Oren was charged with two counts of sexual assault in two separate incidents and one count of sexual assault by multiple perpetrators, Fernandez Rundle announced at a news conference. Alon is punished in a case of sexual harassment by several perpetrators.
Ohad Fisherman, a cousin of the Alexanders, also faces charges in the state of Florida but remains at large, Fernandez Rundle said.
Ohad Fischer.
Source: Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office
New York prosecutors on Wednesday also asked federal judges in Manhattan and Miami to keep the brothers in custody, saying they “pose a persistent and significant danger to the community and pose a serious flight risk.”
That arrest memo also noted that while the accused conduct occurred between 2010 and 2021, the federal investigation revealed that the Alexander brothers had been raping and sexually abusing victims for more than 20 years, starting when they were in high school.
An attorney for Oren, Susan Necheles, said in a statement to NBC News: “Oren Alexander is innocent. The evidence will show that neither he nor his brothers ever committed a crime.”
Isabelle Kirshner, an attorney for Alon and Oren, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Deanna Paul, an attorney for Tal, declined to comment.
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“This conduct was, as alleged, abhorrent,” U.S. Attorney Williams said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Williams noted that the Justice Department is still investigating allegations against the Alexander brothers and urged others with information about the case to come forward. “We’re not done yet,” he said.
Several women have previously filed civil lawsuits in Manhattan accusing the brothers of sexual assault. The brothers have denied wrongdoing.
“We are pleased to hear that there will finally be some measure of accountability for the Alexander brothers and justice for their many victims,” David Gottlieb, an attorney for the plaintiffs in several civil lawsuits, said in a statement.
“We applaud all the survivors who, after years of pain and suffering, had the strength and courage to speak about their unimaginable experiences,” Gottlieb said.
In federal court filings unsealed Wednesday, the brothers were accused of enforcing the long-standing sex trafficking system by deceiving victims and forcing them to travel with them or meet them in private places.
The brothers then allegedly “used various methods, including drugging the victims and sometimes physical violence, to rape and sexually assault the victims – sometimes alone and sometimes together.”
The indictment describes a number of methods the brothers allegedly used to make the scheme possible.
The brothers organized events and trips abroad as “bait” to lure women who were then “frequently” attacked, the indictment says.
They would also allegedly work with party promoters to get women to attend parties and events at their vacation properties, including their home in the Hamptons. Before these events, she and others procured drugs such as cocaine, mushrooms and the drug GHB, which is considered a date rape drug.
Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, left, and James Dennehy, Deputy Director of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), right, during a press conference in New York, USA, on Wednesday, November 11. December 2024.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Oren and Tal, in particular, allegedly used “their prominent positions in the real estate industry” to attract women to attend events and parties. Alon runs the family's private security company, Kent Security.
The brothers secretly drug the women “several times,” which left some of them feeling physically and mentally impaired, the indictment says.
“Immediately” after attacking victims, the brothers sometimes offered them “material items, including trips, concert tickets and other luxury experiences,” the indictment says.
They would also use similar tactics to rape women they happened to meet in nightclubs or parties and lure women to a second location, prosecutors alleged.
One of the brothers sometimes met women online and invited them to his apartment, the prosecutor's arrest memo said.
Victims reportedly reported “in most cases” that one of the brothers gave them something to drink at some point during the trial, after which they experienced symptoms as if they had been “inadvertently given a substance that impaired their physical performance” or their memory.
“Many victims said 'no' to the brothers or even screamed while the rapes were occurring, but each time the defendants ignored any verbal resistance,” prosecutors alleged in the memo.
—CNBC's Jim Forkin contributed to this report.