In March, a federal jury in Manhattan found identical twin brothers, Alon Alexander and Oren Alexander, as well as their older brother, Tal Alexander, guilty of sex trafficking. On the latest episode of Luxury Handbag Shopping’s Uncovered, investigative journalist Kristin Thorne spoke to the family’s media representative, Juda Engelmayer, about why he believes the verdict was unfair.
More than a decade ago, the Alexander brothers were at the top of the real estate game in Miami and New York selling to the rich and famous. They lived a life of luxury by making tons of money and attending and hosting extravagant parties.
The brothers would invite women to these parties, which is where 11 women have since testified that they were sexually assaulted by one or more of the Alexander brothers.
Some of the women said they were drugged, while one claimed she was just 17 years old when Oren recorded having sex with her. Prosecutors showed the jury part of the video which showed the woman appearing to be unconscious.
The defense disputed that the woman was unconscious throughout the entire video and pointed to the fact that the woman testified she couldn’t recall what happened that night.
The defense argued that none of the women who testified or spoke with prosecutors ever filed a police report or had a medical record related to an alleged sexual assault committed by the brothers. In fact, it wasn’t until one woman filed a civil lawsuit in Miami in March 2024 that other victims came forward. The brothers were arrested nine months later in December 2024. During the trial, the prosecution had a psychologist who specializes in working with sexual assault victims testify that often women who have been raped do not report the incidents to police or seek medical care.
While speaking to Thorne, Engelmayer said that the brothers were “emotionally dealing” with the jury’s decision and revealed they’re all worried for their families, their wives and their kids.
Despite their fears, they’re “trying to keep their heads level and trying to focus on the road ahead and prepare themselves for the appeal.” Engelmayer called the verdict “surprising.” “The verdict itself was very surprising at how uniform it was,” he said. “It didn’t look like there was any thought put into the various different charges and who did what.”
“I think that if you look at the verdict itself, the fact that they went down the list and just did guilty on all for all 10 [charges], didn’t really parse out details or testimony or try to figure out who did what,” he continued. “I think they lumped them all into a category of these are all just bad guys.” Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, commended the jury for their attention, care, and commitment to the judicial system. “The jury saw the Alexander’s conduct for what it was—calculated, brutal sexual abuse that, unimaginably, the defendants celebrated,” he said in a statement.
Engelmayer believes the trial should have ended in a mistrial based upon an interaction between two jurors. Early on in the trial, Juror No. 11 wrote a letter to the judge saying that Juror No. 6 didn’t believe the brothers were guilty and wouldn’t vote to convict them. Engelmayer argued that the letter was grounds for a mistrial because “they were clearly talking about the verdict beforehand.”
“The judge ruled that she didn’t think it poisoned the jury pool at all,” Engelmayer said of why the trial continued.
Engelmayer went on to discuss the “issues with the court’s rulings and decisions.”
He said, for example, that Alon’s former girlfriend, Danielle Epstein, testified at trial, but the judge restricted what she could talk about. “She wasn’t allowed to testify about a handful of things which would have been pertinent for the jury to hear about where Alon might have been that night and what he might have been doing other than assaulting people,” he said.
Engelmayer said that it was “bizarre” that the prosecution could use “documentation, text [and] videos” while making their arguments, though the defense seemed limited in what they could produce for the jury. A judge is allowed to use their legal discretion to decide what evidence the jury is allowed to see. Thorne and Engelmayer also discussed how sex trafficking is defined by the law. Sex trafficking is “recruiting or transporting people by force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of ‘commercial sex,’” which means there must be an exchange of money or goods.
In the Alexander brothers’ case, the judge said the brothers’ actions did fall under the sex trafficking law as there was commerce in exchange for sex at the parties.
“Even a train ticket, $35 train ticket to the Hamptons on the Long Island Rail Road was, you know, or on the Hamptons Jitney, is commerce,” he said. “You buy them a hotel room, you buy them a flight, buy them dinner, get them a Hampton Jitney ride, and that is commerce. You’re potentially opening up litigation to anybody who takes a woman out for dinner … [or] goes on vacation with them.” Clayton said sex trafficking and other federal sex offenses are present in many walks of life. “Federal sex offenses are all too prevalent in our society and all too often go unreported and unpunished. The abuse inflicted upon the victims is disgusting, scarring, and should not be tolerated. Our prosecutors, and our law enforcement partners, are committed to breaking these conspiracies, bringing the perpetrators to justice, and sending a message to anyone who would commit or enable these horrific acts.”
Engelmayer concluded the conversation by pointing out that the brothers are “not the same people” they were in their 20’s.
“They’re a lot more introspective, and a lot more grown-up and adult, and a lot more mature, and they’re being held to a standard of yesterday,” he said. “And that doesn’t mean that I don’t think that people should pay for their crimes if they committed a crime. But once again, I don’t think they committed a crime, at least on the federal level with what they’re charged of.” The brothers are facing life in prison when they are sentenced in August.
