Three brothers, two of them real estate agents who catered to the jet-set crowd, used a playbook over a 12-year stretch that sometimes involved drugging women and girls before raping them, a prosecutor told a New York jury Tuesday in an opening statement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Smyser said the brothers used “whatever means necessary” including luxury accommodations, flights, drugs, alcohol and sometimes brute force to lure women into situations where they could be raped.
She said Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander “masqueraded as party boys when really they were predators” from 2008 to 2021.
Attorney Teny Geragos, representing Oren Alexander, urged the jury to reject the government’s “monstrous story.”
She said the brothers, who got out of college in 2008, were successful, ambitious and sometimes arrogant as they pursued women in nightclubs, bars, restaurants and online in what is known as “hookup culture,” hoping to have as much sex as possible.
“You may find this behavior immoral, but it is not criminal,” Geragos said, acknowledging her client’s past arrogance in his 20s and calling him a “womanizer, playboy, but he is not a sex trafficker.”
She discredited the women who will testify, saying some of them were hoping to enrich themselves with lawsuits against the brothers and spoke of themselves as victims only after feeling regret that they had done illegal drugs or had sex outside of relationships with their boyfriends.
Attorney Deanna Paul, representing Tal Alexander, warned jurors that the subject matter of the case was disturbing and will seem like an R-rated movie, especially after prosecutors portrayed the brothers as “monsters.”
“In their early 20s, Tal and his brothers were party boys. They were womanizers. They slept with many, many women,” she said.
She urged jurors to reject the criminal charges against the brothers if they conclude that the accusers’ testimony was unreliable.
Alon Alexander’s defense attorneys held off on giving an opening statement Tuesday. They plan to offer it after the prosecution rests.
The openings preceded testimony in what’s expected to be a monthlong trial.
The brothers have pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers say prosecutors are unjustly criminalizing consensual sex.
According to the indictment, the men violently sexually assaulted and raped dozens of women after luring them to various destinations — including Manhattan, the Hamptons, Miami, and international locales — with promises of luxury experiences, travel and accommodations. They allegedly would provide flights and upscale hotel rooms and invite the women entertainment events and parties before sexually abusing them, and sometimes raping them.
The indictment stated that often, the brothers “drugged their victims before assaulting them, preventing them from fighting back or escaping.” The brothers were described by prosecutors as “partners in crime,” alleging that in some cases, the assaults happened simultaneously.
The first witness, using the pseudonym Katie Moore, testified mid-afternoon Tuesday that the thrill of attending a party at actor Zac Efron’s apartment turned into a nightmare when, hours later, one of the brothers repeatedly raped her at their home and taunted her about it.
She told jurors she was an accuser in the case, saying she “ended up getting drugged and raped by Alon Alexander.”
Moore, one of several alleged victims expected to take the witness stand, testified that she was 20-year-old college student when she met Alon and Tal Alexander at at Efron’s apartment in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. She said she had gone with a friend who was invited to the gathering to watch the 2012 NBA Finals.
She said she had little interaction with Efron, who is not accused of any wrongdoing.
According to her testimony, the group talked and drank, and Tal Alexander offered her the drug MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly. She told jurors they later went to a nightclub, where she said a man handed her a drink and she passed out.
She said she woke up naked on a bed in another apartment with Alon Alexander.
“The next thing I remember is coming to instantly, like a switch, and I was laying naked across a bed with Alon standing over me who was naked as well. In that moment I had no idea what happened,” she testified.
She testified when she tried to leave and Alon Alexander pushed her down.
“I said ‘I don’t want to have sex with you’ and he said ‘You already did.’ That was incredibly overwhelming, everything came crashing down on me,” Moore testified, recalling that Alexander “laughed in my face.”
She told jurors that Tal Alexander then entered the room, but did nothing to stop the attack, saying he seemed “super nonchalant.”
Moore said she was sexually assaulted again, despite her saying no. She fled the room after Alon Alexander fell asleep.
She remained composed through much of her testimony, though got choked up several times. She cried as she recalled reaching out several years after the attack to friends she had told about the experience so she could be reminded that others loved her.
Prosecutors said the youngest alleged victim of the brothers was just 16 years old. They told the jury they plan to present testimony, photos, videos, text messages, and travel records.
In court papers, defense lawyers have said that among witnesses they had identified, they’d been able to locate evidence “that undermines nearly every aspect of the alleged victims’ narratives.”
Oren and Tal Alexander were real estate dealers who specialized in high-end properties in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Their brother, Alon, graduated from New York Law School before running the family’s private security firm. Tal is 39 years old while Alon and Oren, who are twins, are 38.
The brothers have been held without bail since their December 2024 arrest in Miami, where they lived.