NEW YORK (AP) – Two high-end real estate brokers and their brothers have been charged with sex trafficking, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan.
Federal prosecutors say in the indictment that Oren Alexander and Tal Alexander, known for brokering high-end real estate deals in New York City and Miami, and their brother Aron Alexander conspired to “repeatedly harass dozens of victims. He violently drugged her, sexually assaulted her, and raped her.” ”
“This act was heinous,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at a news conference from his Manhattan office.
Williams said the brothers used their wealth and influence to take advantage of their victims from at least 2010 to 2021.
The brothers, all of whom live in Miami, used “deception, fraud and coercion” to coerce their victims into traveling with them and paying for their flights, hotels and other expenses to attend parties and events, according to the indictment. It is said that They reportedly even promised a romantic relationship at times.
The women were then drugged and raped by one or more of their brothers and other men, U.S. attorneys said.
After the assault, the brothers often gave the victims concert tickets or luxury goods, Williams added.
Mr Williams said the brothers often met their victims on dating apps, at social events and at bars and nightclubs, and used party promoters to “source” the women.
The women were frequently provided with drugs such as cocaine, psychedelic mushrooms and GHB, and the brothers also secretly drugged some of the women’s drinks, leaving them disabled and sexually assaulted. He was unable to fight back or run away, prosecutors said in the indictment.
“In some cases, the defendants physically restrained and held the victims down during the rapes and sexual assaults, ignoring their screams and clear requests to stop,” the indictment states.
Williams said the brothers were arrested in Florida on Wednesday and will appear in Miami federal court before being taken to New York to plead to the charges.
Tal Alexander, 38, Oren Alexander, 37, and Oren’s twin brother, Aron Alexander, were each charged with one count of participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy.
Williams declined to say whether others would also be charged because the investigation is ongoing.
“They were not acting alone,” Williams said.
The brothers’ attorneys did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.
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Follow Phillip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
