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After a flurry of sexual assault and rape claims were made against top luxury brokers Tal and Oren Alexander this year, the brothers, along with Oren’s twin, Alon, were arrested in Miami on Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors in New York announced the arrests, Business Insider reported. All three brothers have continued to deny the allegations against them.
The news comes after it was made public in July that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had begun a probe against the brothers in relation to the sexual assault claims that had been made against them, dating back as far as to when the brothers were in high school, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The WSJ also reported on Wednesday that the arrests were related to a joint investigation between the FBI and authorities in New York.
James Cinque, a lawyer for the Alexanders, did not immediately respond to Inman’s request for comment. Representatives for Wigdor Law, which is representing Angelica Parker in a lawsuit against Tal Alexander, posted a response to the arrests on X, which they also sent to Inman.
“We are glad to hear that there will finally be some measure of accountability for the Alexander brothers and justice for their many victims,” the statement attributed to Partner David E. Gottlieb said. “We applaud all the survivors who have had the strength and courage to speak up about their unimaginable experiences after years of pain and suffering.”
Lawyers for Kate Whiteman and Rebecca Mandel at Torgan Cooper + Aaron, who filed separate lawsuits against Alon and Oren Alexander, did not immediately respond to Inman’s request for comment.
The women filed separate lawsuits in March accusing Oren and Alon, who is a private security executive, of rape and assault for instances dating back to 2010 and 2012. Then Tal Alexander was sued in June by Angelica Parker, who alleged that the broker sexually assaulted and raped her in 2012. In the intervening weeks between when the lawsuits against Oren and Alon became public and when Tal was sued, around two dozen women came forward to attorney Evan Torgan, a partner at Torgan Cooper + Aaron, and made similar allegations of sexual assault against the brothers.
Tal and Oren Alexander became top agents at Douglas Elliman over the course of their 10-year career at the firm, closing some of the priciest deals in New York City and Miami with clients like Citadel CEO Ken Griffin and WeWork founder Adam Neumann.
In 2022, they split from Douglas Elliman to launch Side-backed firm Official with cofounders Andrew Wachtfogel, Nicole Oge and Richard L. Jordan. After allegations came to light against Tal and Oren, each brother seemingly agreed to step down from their roles at the firm. However, as the weeks went on and pressures mounted, it was revealed that ownership negotiations among the five cofounders fell apart. Ultimately, Wachtfogel, Oge and Jordan relinquished their ownership in Official and departed the firm in August.
Allegations surrounding the Alexander brothers and their bad behavior had been something of an open secret for years, investigations by The WSJ and The NYT showed. Leadership at Douglas Elliman had also faced scrutiny in recent months, as questions rose about how much they may have known about the allegations while the brokers were still affiliated with Douglas Elliman.
During a press conference by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said that the Alexander brothers had wielded their wealth and status in order to “create and facilitate opportunities to sexually assault women” for years, which has been detailed in a newly unsealed federal indictment.
In what Williams called “heinous” conduct, the Alexander brothers used travel and and other social opportunities to at times “lure” victims to a vacation property or location, according to a FBI investigation.
“This conduct, as alleged, was heinous,” Williams said, naming the brothers’ actions “sex trafficking.”
Each brother faces 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 indictment. Tal also faces an additional count of sex trafficking of a victim by force, fraud or coercion.
The brothers could face prison sentences of 15 years to life, according to prosecutors.
During the press conference, New York prosecutors also urged federal judges in Manhattan and Miami to keep the brothers detained, claiming they “pose an ongoing and significant danger to the community and present a serious risk of flight.”
“Let me add this — we are not done,” Williams said, suggesting prosecutors’ work in the investigation would continue.
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