US brothers charged in luxury real estate sex-trafficking scheme
THREE brothers were charged by US authorities with sex trafficking on Wednesday, in a lurid case that alleges they used their high-profile connections in the luxury real estate world to assault women for years.
Oren and Tal Alexander are the founders of real estate firm Official, which has offices in Miami and New York. Alon Alexander - Oren’s twin - worked at the family’s private security firm, according to US media.
The brothers are alleged to have used “deception, fraud and coercion” - including the promise of luxury travel accommodation - to engage in sex trafficking as well as drugging, sexually assaulting and raping dozens of women.
They used “their wealth and prominent positions in real estate to create and facilitate opportunities” to do so, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a statement.
The assaults date from at least 2010 to at least 2021, prosecutors said.
Just two years ago, Tal, 38, and Oren, 37, were the subject of a New York Times profile detailing their successful ventures as real-estate high rollers, including the sale of a 2,230 sqm Manhattan penthouse for US$234 million.
Tal Alexander flaunted a “no days off” lifestyle of constantly showing glamorous residences to wealthy clients.
Prosecutors painted a grim picture of all three brothers luring women to events and parties, then drugging them with cocaine, mushrooms and GHB, and assaulting them.
The Alexanders and those in their circle used “social media, dating applications, in-person encounters... and party promoters who would recruit women for these events,” prosecutors said.
Susan Necheles, an attorney for Oren Alexander, said in a statement that her client was innocent and “the evidence will show that neither he nor his brothers ever committed a crime.”
Alon, 37, Oren and Tal are charged with engaging in sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, which both carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Tal Alexander is also charged with a second count of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. AFP
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