Former luxury brokers Tal Alexander and Oren Alexander and their brother Aron Alexander, a former security executive, head to trial Monday in U.S. Courthouse Daniel Patrick Moynihan on U.S.-bred sex trafficking charges.
Months before the federal government intervened, the brothers, who were mentored by their father, prominent Miami-based developer Shlomi Alexander, were accused of sexual assault by dozens of women in New York, Florida and elsewhere, dating back to at least 2010, according to several counts.
For those who haven’t caught all the coverage since the allegations against them first surfaced in the spring of 2024, or for those who simply need a refresher, these are important points to keep in mind as the Alexander brothers’ trial begins.
How it all started
In June 2024, two civil lawsuits filed against Oren Alexander and Aron Alexander in March of the same year were made public. They alleged that the brothers sexually assaulted and raped two women in separate incidents in 2010 and 2012.
The lawsuit by Rebecca Mandel and Kate Whiteman in New York County Supreme Court comes just before the expiration of New York state’s Adult Survivors Act, which eliminates the statute of limitations for sexual assault cases. The law allowed survivors of assault victims who were 18 years or older at the time of the assault to sue the alleged perpetrator, no matter how long after the crime occurred.
In addition to the brothers’ own assaults, the lawsuit also claimed that the brothers’ actions in the lawsuit were representative of a pattern of similar behavior toward other women over many years. The lawsuit details how the women were suspected of being drugged by the brothers and forcibly restrained while being forced to perform sex acts.
In the weeks that followed, as more victims came forward, Alexander’s eldest son Tal was also named in the lawsuit as the perpetrator of the sexual assault. All three brothers denied the charges.
Amid public scrutiny as a result of the lawsuit, Mr. Oren and Mr. Tull announced they would step down from their leadership roles in their company, Official Partners, which they co-founded with other partners on the white label brokerage side.
Over the summer of 2024, dozens of women came forward to media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the law firm of Torgan Cooper + Aaron, detailing allegations of abuse at the hands of one or more of the three brothers. All of this led to an investigation into the brothers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Journal reported.
business relationship breaks down
Tensions within the luxury brand continued to rise after Tal and Oren resigned from their roles at Official.
Amid the negative publicity surrounding the brothers, the company’s top agents, including Los Angeles-based Tyrone McKillen, Brent Watson and Marco Salari, as well as multiple agents in New York and Miami, have left.
Meanwhile, Official’s remaining three co-founders, Nicole Orge, Richard Jordan, and Andrew Wachtvogel, have been trying to chart a course for several weeks, moving Official’s name away from the Alexanders. However, exit negotiations between the three partners and the two brothers failed, and Mr. Aughe, Mr. Jordan, and Mr. Wachtvogel left the company in mid-August 2024.
Tull and Oren then returned to the public domain through one of their attorneys, James Cink, in late August, despite being under FBI surveillance, indicating that they would “announce more details soon” about their future plans.
However, these plans never had a chance to come to fruition, as the brothers were sued by Side for breach of contract. The company alleged that the brothers failed to pay $1.6 million on a promissory note and were not in compliance with a security agreement dating back to August 2022. The brothers claimed they had never missed a payment. The parties ultimately settled the lawsuit in April 2025.
The allegations surrounding the Alexander brothers and their poor behavior have been something of an open secret for years, a WSJ/NYT investigation has revealed. Douglas Elliman executives have also faced scrutiny in recent months, with questions raised about how much the brokerage knew about the allegations while it was still affiliated with its former brokerage.
federal authorities involved
Things got even more dire for the Alexanders in December 2024, when the brothers were arrested in Miami on federal sex trafficking charges as a result of a joint investigation between the FBI and New York authorities.
Prosecutors argued that the brothers used their wealth and influence over many years to “seduce” their victims with trips and other lavish experiences and “create and facilitate the opportunity for sexual assault of women.”
A month later, it was also made public that prosecutors had searched Tull’s luxury apartment at 432 Park Avenue and found a hard drive, according to court filings. They included explicit videos “depicting at least Oren, Aron, and several third parties recording or filming themselves in an inebriated and undressed state with a woman,” the complaint said.
The filing also explained that in some videos, one of the brothers and another anonymous man “physically manipulated the women’s bodies” in order to have sex, even though it was clear that the women “did not actively participate” or “turned their backs.”
Since the original indictment was filed against the brothers in December 2024, several superseding indictments have instead added additional charges against the brothers.
Last week, federal authorities charged Oren and Aron with a new count of incapacitated sexual abuse, citing an example in which the brothers allegedly had sex with a woman “who was physically unable to refuse” aboard a Bahamian-flagged cruise ship departing from the United States in 2012.
The three brothers face a total of 12 charges for drugging, sexual assault, and conspiracy to commit rape against women in various cities across the country.
death of key accuser
The latest shocking development in the case is the sudden death of Whiteman, one of the brothers’ original accusers.
The New York Times reported last week that the Australian woman, just 45 years old, was found dead near Sydney in late 2025. The New South Wales coroner confirmed Mr Whiteman’s death was under investigation by police. The report said such investigations are typically conducted “only when there is a question as to whether a death was due to ‘natural causes.'”
The coroner’s office later provided an update saying the investigation had concluded and Whiteman’s death was deemed “non-suspicious.”
In July, thought-provoking texts and photographs between Whiteman and the Alexanders were published in the Daily Mail. The brothers said in court that they provided the same documents to The Real Deal, which “refused” to publish them. The Alexanders sued TRD for defamation.
TRD publisher Amir Kolanji told The New York Times about the photos and text: “The Alexanders provided those materials off the record. We couldn’t verify them, and they didn’t prove they didn’t assault her. There was no point in not reporting on the accusations.”
what’s next
Jury selection in the case began Tuesday in New York, with Judge Valerie Caproni overseeing selection. Mr. Caproni explained the case against his brothers and asked each of the dozens of potential jurors in the courtroom to stand and face each other.
The judge also explained that the trial is expected to last about a month and will include charges of sex trafficking, sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation of a minor.
Documents filed by the defense on Saturday accused prosecutors of improperly renewing the indictment with charges that the defense did not have time to investigate before trial. The charges include charges that Oren forced a 17-year-old girl to perform sexual acts in 2009 and filmed the act. But the defense team was upset by the fact that the girl’s birth certificate could not be authenticated because it was issued by a former Soviet republic that is currently in a war zone.
If the brothers are convicted, they could be sentenced to 15 years in prison. They have been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since their arrest in late 2024. This is the same jail that held Sean “Diddy” Combs and prosecuted United Healthcare CEO’s murderer Luigi Mangione.
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Email Lillian Dickerson
