A prominent luxury real estate broker and his identical twin brother appeared in a Florida courtroom Thursday on sexual assault charges. A third brother, who co-founded the real estate firm, is also charged in what federal officials call a longtime sex trafficking scheme.
Oren and Alon Alexander, both 37, were ordered held without bond by Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer until a hearing on Friday, where their attorney will attempt to free them on bail. State prosecutors contend both are flight risks and should remain in custody until trial.
“We’re making a bail proposal to the state. Hopefully, the state is amenable to that,” said the brothers’ attorney, Joel Denaro, during the hearing in Miami. Oren and Alon Alexander appeared at the hearing via video wearing protective green vests, with their arms exposed.
The other brother, 38-year-old Tal Alexander, appeared Wednesday in a Miami federal courtroom on the federal sex trafficking indictment involving all three of them. Tal Alexander will have a bail hearing on Friday, with prosecutors seeking pretrial detention and Denaro seeking bail in that venue as well.
None of them have entered a plea to the charges yet.
The three brothers have been charged with luring, drugging, and violently raping dozens of women over more than a decade, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York.
State charges were also filed Wednesday in Florida against two of the brothers and a third man stemming from three alleged sexual assaults.
The federal indictment alleges that for at least 14 years, the three brothers conspired with other men to organize events as bait to recruit, entice, and transport women. They are accused of “repeatedly drugging, sexually assaulting, and raping dozens of female victims.”
The indictment states that the Alexander brothers premeditatedly arranged sexual assaults by promising luxury experiences, travel, and accommodation to lure women.
Once at these locations, the women were allegedly forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men, including one or more of the Alexander brothers, according to court documents.
The alleged “long-running sex trafficking scheme” began in 2010 and relied on “deception, fraud and coercion,” prosecutors said.
The brothers used dating apps or social media, in-person encounters, or party planners as intermediaries, according to the indictment.
Before the events, the Alexander brothers and their associates acquired drugs such as cocaine, mushrooms, and GHB, which they agreed to provide to the women, the indictment states.
During these events and trips, they surreptitiously drugged women’s drinks on multiple occasions, court documents say. Many victims experienced symptoms that impaired their physical and mental capacity, including restricted movement and speech, and fragmented memories of the events, according to prosecutors. This incapacitation made it impossible for the victims to resist or escape during the assaults, the indictment alleges.
The brothers allegedly held down women and “ignored screams and explicit requests to stop,” the indictment states.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, and the head of the FBI’s New York office, James E. Dennehy, announced federal charges against the Alexander brothers on Wednesday in Manhattan.
Williams stated that the investigation was “far from over” and encouraged anyone with claims of sexual violence by any of the Alexander brothers to come forward.
Dennehy said such investigations are “only possible because of the bravery victims show in coming forward.”
“We will not allow this type of alleged behavior to go unimpeded. Predators forcefully coercing victims into sexual acts cannot and will not be tolerated.”
Oren and Tal Alexander started their careers at Douglas Elliman, one of the largest real estate brokerages in the country. They quickly rose to the top ranks and were instrumental in brokering the sale of a penthouse for nearly $240 million—the most expensive residential sale in U.S. history at the time.
In 2022, Oren and Tal Alexander left Douglas Elliman and founded Official, a luxury real estate firm with offices in Manhattan and Miami Beach, as stated on their website.
Prior to their recent legal issues, the Alexander brothers had been accused in civil lawsuits of various acts of sexual misconduct.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the charges. NTD regrets the error.