Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking life sentences for two former luxury real estate brokers and their brother, who were convicted this year of using their influence to drug and sexually abuse women over several years, according to court documents.
Twins Oren and Alon Alexander and their brother Tal “have been convicted of sex crimes of extraordinary magnitude,” prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday.
“They spent years designing, executing, and perfecting their playbook of luring victims with promises of luxury, drugging victims so they could not resist, and then forcibly raping them,” prosecutors wrote.
The brothers were found guilty of 10 counts of engaging in a yearslong conspiracy of rape, sex trafficking, sex abuse and sexual exploitation. They pleaded not guilty but were convicted in April after a trial in which 11 accusers testified.
One accuser testified that Alon Alexander drugged and raped her after a night out at a New York City club. She told the court that after she was given a drink, her “body started to sway.”
She testified that she woke up naked on a bed with Alon Alexander, who did not have any clothes on, standing over her.
“I tried to get out of the bed a few times, but Alon kept pushing me back down,” she said. “Finally, he sat down on the bed, and I was able to get up, and I said, ‘I don’t want to have sex with you,’ and he said, ‘You already did.’”
Oren and Tal Alexander were powerful luxury real estate brokers. Prosecutors said the brothers used their wealth and influence to prey on women and coerce them into sex acts.
In arguing for a life sentence, prosecutors wrote in Wednesday’s filing that over 70 women came forward with “harrowing accounts of assault that stripped them of their dignity and autonomy.”
Attorneys for the brothers said in a sentencing submission filed Tuesday that the brothers are innocent.
The brothers will each ask for a sentence of 15 years, the defense attorneys wrote, which is the minimum sentence under some of the charges of which they were convicted.
The defense attorneys wrote that all three brothers were competitive with one another and others when it came to dating women and that in the years before they were charged, “they engaged in conduct that was, at times, insensitive toward the feelings of certain women.”
“But Alon, Oren and Tal steadfastly maintain their complete innocence of these awful charges,” the defense attorneys wrote. “At no time did Alon, Oren or Tal rape or sexually assault another person.”
Sentencing is set for Oct. 27.