NEW YORK — Three wealthy brothers who built their reputation in high-end real estate now face the possibility of life behind bars as a Manhattan federal jury deliberates their fate on sex trafficking charges.
Twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 38, along with their brother Tal, 39, are accused of drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women over more than a decade. Two of the brothers gained fame as luxury real estate agents dubbed ‘The A Team,’ while the third worked in private security.
Jury deliberations began Thursday following marathon closing arguments where defense lawyers painted their clients as promiscuous playboys rather than the predators prosecutors described.
Marc Agnifilo, representing Oren Alexander, acknowledged his clients’ lifestyle may have been offensive but argued they’re facing charges because of anger over their behavior, not criminal conduct.
‘Not because they’re rapists. Not because they drug women. But because they have a certain combination of characteristics that have made lots of people angry with them,’ Agnifilo told the 12-person jury.
He continued: ‘They’re reaching out. Why? Because they are pursuing women. They’re pursuing women across the board. That’s what the evidence shows. They’re not drugging them, they’re not raping them, but they’re certainly pursuing them.’
The defense team, which included the lawyer who recently secured acquittals for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs on major charges, urged jurors to look past emotional testimony from nearly a dozen alleged victims.
Agnifilo told jurors that acquitting takes bravery. ‘It takes courage to acquit. It does,’ he said. ‘And I want you guys to know that that’s what you should do here. You should have that courage.’
Attorney Deanna Paul, defending Tal Alexander, criticized prosecutors for lacking sufficient evidence. ‘You can’t build a house if you don’t have any bricks,’ she argued.
Both defense lawyers challenged the government’s attempt to connect their clients to a disturbing blog containing posts about drugging and assaulting women.
While Agnifilo called the blog content ‘horrific,’ he insisted no evidence showed the Alexander brothers authored the offensive posts. ‘Are they tasteless? They’re beyond tasteless. They’re shocking. They’re awful,’ he said. ‘I submit to you it does not help you. It doesn’t help you make your decision.’
Paul was more direct: ‘There is zero proof that any of the Alexander brothers ever wrote any of those blog posts, and there is not one shred of evidence that Tal even knew it existed.’
However, prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa countered in her rebuttal that investigators discovered the blog on a computer hard drive inside Tal Alexander’s residence. She claimed the posts reflected the brothers’ methods and rationalizations for assault.
Espinosa described how the blog justified attacks under various scenarios, including when victims were too frightened to report incidents or when drugs impaired their ability to resist.
The prosecutor dismissed defense arguments as ‘all nonsense’ and declared the case straightforward. ‘This is not a close case,’ she stated while requesting guilty verdicts.
She credited the courage of 11 women who testified against the brothers, calling their testimony ‘an avalanche of evidence.’
Espinosa accused defense attorneys of cherry-picking testimony details to distract jurors from the broader pattern of alleged abuse. ‘Defendants’ arguments are meant to confuse and distract you,’ she warned. ‘That bigger picture is more important.’
The case gained additional attention Thursday when Tracy Tutor, featured on Bravo’s ‘Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,’ filed a civil lawsuit alleging Oren Alexander drugged and attacked her in a restaurant restroom during a New York real estate event.
Jason Goldman, representing Oren Alexander in civil matters, criticized the timing of Tutor’s lawsuit, calling it ‘salacious and demonstrably false’ and designed for ‘maximum media impact.’ He noted her allegations date back over ten years and have been previously publicized.
All three brothers have entered not guilty pleas to the federal charges they face.
