Federal prosecutors in New York are moving to drop some criminal counts against the Alexander brothers—two of them prominent ultra-luxury real estate agents—in their sex trafficking trial, citing concerns over suspected witness intimidation.
“We don’t plan to proceed to the jury with counts 6 and 7,” Madison Smyser, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Judge Valerie E. Caproni in Manhattan federal court Friday, as The New York Times first reported.
The two counts accuse Alon, Oren, and Tal Alexander of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion in connection with an incident dating back to June 2009, according to the brothers’ superseding indictment.
The women whom the brothers allegedly transported across state lines and forced to engage in unspecified sex acts, named in the court filing as Victim-4 and Victim-5, had been expected to testify at the Alexanders’ trial but never made it.
Realtor.com® reached out for comment to the Southern District of New York .
Prosecutors previously alleged a pattern of intimidation targeting at least one of the women in the lead-up to the trial, which got underway in January and is expected to conclude next month.
According to court records, a private investigator hired by the defense went around Victim-4’s neighborhood asking questions about her children while pretending to be an insurance agent.
Prosecutors slammed the stunt as “boundary crossing” in a memo cited by the Times and predicted that it could result in witnesses backing out of the trial, leading the judge to issue a stern warning to the defense in court.
On Friday, Smyser confirmed that the prosecution was seeking the dismissal of counts 6 and 7 because the witnesses failed to testify in the wake of what happened “with regard to the defense investigators.”
Defense attorney Jason Goldman, representing Oren and Alon Alexander, argued that there was nothing unusual about the government’s decision to drop the counts.
“Prosecutors routinely withdraw or drop charges when evidentiary, factual, or legal issues lead them to conclude that they cannot meet their burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Goldman said in a statement to Realtor.com. “That is precisely how the justice system is designed to function. To suggest or imply anything beyond that is just noise to drum up sensational, albeit unfounded speculation.”
Caproni will determine whether to dismiss the charges. If that happens, the trial will focus on 10 counts, including allegations of sex trafficking and the sexual exploitation of a minor.
The Alexander brothers have repeatedly pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. If convicted, they could each face life in prison.
Brothers arrested after facing civil suits
Oren, 38, and Tal Alexander, 39, who co-founded the high-end real estate firm Official specializing in premium properties in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles, were arrested in December 2024 along with Oren’s twin brother, Alon, who worked as an executive at his family’s private security company.
The trio were apprehended in Miami and later extradited to New York to face federal charges related to sex trafficking.
“The Alexander brothers allegedly conspired using their wealth and status to prey on innocent women, coercing them into engaging in sexual acts,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy said in a statement. “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.”
According to the superseding indictment, for more than a decade, the wealthy brothers repeatedly and violently sexually assaulted and raped dozens of victims “using the promise of luxury experiences, travel, and accommodations to lure and entice women to locations where they were then forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men. …”
Claims in the filing and the prosecutors’ comments state that on multiple occasions, the Alexander brothers drugged the alleged victims, whom they met online and at bars and nightclubs, with cocaine or psychedelic mushrooms to prevent them from putting up a fight or escaping.
In her opening statement, Smyser told the jury the Alexander brothers “masqueraded as party boys when really they were predators.”
Lawyers for the defendants acknowledged that the brothers were womanizers who were pursuing sex with many partners but called on jurors to reject the prosecution’s “monstrous story,” reported The Associated Press.
“You may find this behavior immoral, but it is not criminal,” said Teny Geragos, one of the attorneys representing Oren Alexander.
The Alexander brothers’ arrest in Miami in 2024 came after Oren and Alon were hit with a pair of civil lawsuits accusing them of sexually assaulting two women on separate occasions in 2010 in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District and in 2012 at a party in the Hamptons.
A third lawsuit filed against Tal Alexander alleged that the high-end broker sexually assaulted a woman in New York in 2012 as his brother Oren looked on.
All three brothers have denied the allegations laid out in the complaints.
