Co-founders of US luxury real estate brokerage accused of sex trafficking

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The co-founders of a U.S. luxury real estate brokerage have been arrested on sex trafficking charges, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday, accusing them of raping dozens of victims.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan accused brothers and co-founders of the official brokerage Oren Alexander and Tal Alexander, as well as their brother Alon Alexander, of drugging and sexually assaulting victims for more than a decade starting in 2010.

The brothers often invited women to parties or outings, where they raped them alone or together, sometimes within hours of meeting them, prosecutors said in an eight-page indictment. According to the indictment, they sometimes offered the victims travel or concert tickets after the assaults.

They each face one count of sex trafficking conspiracy and one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. Tal Alexander faces an additional charge of sex trafficking. US Attorney Damian Williams is expected to provide further details at a press conference starting at 1pm EST (6pm GMT).

A lawyer for Tal Alexander, 38, declined to comment. Attorneys for the twins Oren and Alon Alexander, both 37, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Oren and Tal Alexander resigned from their positions at Official in June, the New York Times reported. Alon Alexander worked as an executive at a private security company, prosecutors said.

The official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Oren, Tal and Alon Alexander have also been sued in civil court on sexual abuse allegations. All three brothers have denied the allegations.

Official focuses on the brokerage of luxury real estate sales and rentals in New York, Miami, the Hamptons and Aspen, Colorado.

Williams’ office has prioritized sex trafficking cases in recent years, after securing the conviction of Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and filing charges against hip-hop empresario Sean “Diddy” Combs. Maxwell recently lost an appeal of her conviction and Combs has pleaded not guilty.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Rod Nickel)