Three real estate brothers accused of a scheme to sex traffic women across multiple states and Mexico were in a federal courtroom in New York on Tuesday to face a third superseding indictment.
An added count against Alon Alexander and Oren Alexander brings the total to 10 counts against Oren Alexander, Tal Alexander and Alon Alexander.
They pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The brothers appeared in hand and leg shackles, wearing olive-colored prison attire. They greeted their parents on their way in and out of the brief arraignment.
Federal prosecutors have accused the men of working together to drug, sexually assault and rape dozens of victims between 2009 and 2021. The charges allege that the brothers promised women luxury experiences to lure them to locations where they were sexually assaulted and raped. Seven victims are included in the indictment, including a minor.
Federal prosecutors have said they have spoken to more than 60 alleged victims of the men.
The new count alleges that Alon and Oren gave a drug, intoxicant or another substance to a woman without her knowledge to cause her to engage in a sex act while on a Bahamian cruise ship that departed from and arrived in the United States.
An attorney for Alon, Howard Srebnick, said that his client had not drugged a woman to have sex with her.
“On January 13, 2025, a retired FBI polygraph examiner tested Alon while in jail. Alon was asked if he ever had sex with any woman he knew had been covertly given drugs, which Alon denied,” Srebnick said. “The polygraph examiner opined that Alon passed the lie detector test, there were ‘no significant reactions indicative of deception’ by Alon.”
Attorneys for the other men either declined to comment Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, attorneys for the three brothers appeared at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to appeal their detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where they have been held since last December.
“They did not agree to provide sex in exchange for the travel or accommodations,” defense attorney Deanna Paul for Tal Alexander wrote in a dismissal motion filed Monday in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
“The alleged travel and accommodations were not conditioned expressly, or implicitly, on the victims’ participation in the sex acts; and the travel and accommodations did not represent compensation for the sex acts,” the motion states, citing four separate federal court decisions on the sex trafficking law requiring that connection to hold up.
Their next hearing is set for Aug 19.
The Alexander brothers filed a defamation lawsuit this week against The Real Deal, a real estate publication, seeking $500 million in damages for what they say has been a “smear campaign” against them that “has relentlessly published articles containing false and misleading statements”.
The Real Deal strongly rejected those allegations.
“Let’s be clear: this lawsuit is not about justice. It’s an attempt to stop investigative journalism and bully a newsroom for doing its job,” founder and publisher Amir Korangy said in a statement Tuesday. “The Real Deal’s reporting was fair and conscientious, and we are confident the courts will see this for what it is — a frivolous and cynical attempt to weaponize the legal system.”
