‘My ‘No’s’ Got Louder and More Desperate’: Trial of Hard-Partying Alexander Brothers Begins With Woman’s Vivid Description of Rape

The sex trafficking trial of the three brothers, Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander began at a Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. The defendants are accused of using social connections to lure, drug, sexually assault, traffick, and rape numerous women, including two who are alleged to have been underage. Defense attorneys argue that their clients led a wild party lifestyle with consensual sex and are being framed for monetary reasons. “These three brothers masqueraded as party boys when really they were predators,” an assistant U.S. attorney, Madison Smeyser, told a jury of six men and six women in her opening statement on Tuesday, ABC reported. The three defendants, who have been held without bail since last year at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, alongside Venezuela’s deposed president, Nicholas Maduro, and the alleged killer of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Luigi Mangione, were seated at the defense tables, wearing gray suits and open-collar shirts, ABC reported.“The brothers used whatever means necessary — sometimes drugs, sometimes alcohol, sometimes brute force — to carry out their rapes,” the prosecutor alleged, according to ABC. “They came from a wealthy family, and they lived a life of luxury. But their luxurious lifestyle had a dark side.” Oren Alexander, left, and Tal Alexander attend a TAG Heuer dinner in honor of NBA star Jimmy Butler at a private residence on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Scott Roth/Invision/AP[L-R] Alon Alexander and Oren Alexander celebrate Sir Ivan’s Medieval Madness Birthday Bash For Model Mina Otsuka At His Hamptons Castle for new Bravo Television show on July 16, 2011. Matthew Peyton/Getty Images for Peaceman ProductionsThe Alexander brothers were born in Israel, but raised in the Miami area. Tal, 39, and Oren, 38, Alexander sold luxury apartments and houses in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. They rose to the top of one of the biggest real estate firms in the country, Douglas Elliman, before opening their own brokerage. In 2019, Tal and Oren brokered the sale of a $238 million penthouse apartment on Manhattan’s Central Park South. At the time, it was the most expensive residential home ever sold in the United States.Alon Alexander, who is Oren’s identical twin brother, was not involved in real estate, but was an executive at Kent Security, a firm founded by his father. At the height of their power, in the early 2020s, the Alexander brothers publicly led a glamorous lifestyle that befitted their role as real estate brokers to the ultra-wealthy. But in 2024, two women filed lawsuits in New York, accusing the twin brothers Oren and Alon of sexual assault and rape in 2010 and 2012. Many more lawsuits would follow. The original allegations became public in June that year after being reported by the real estate publication The Real Deal, drawing the attention of prosecutors. Six months later, in December 2024, the then-United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams brought a federal indictment against all three brothers, charging them with sex trafficking by fraud, force or coercion and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. If convicted they face between 15 years and life in prison. All three brothers pleaded not guilty to all charges. Deanna Paul, attorney for Tal Alexander, arrives for his trial at Manhattan Federal Court on January 27, 2026. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesThe government has used similar sex trafficking charges to go after other famous defendants such as the cult leader Keith Raniere, who was sentenced to 120 years in prison, Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was found not guilty of the sex trafficking charges, Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail, and his consort and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years incarceration.The Alexander brothers were arrested at their Miami homes. The twins face separate charges in Florida state court for separate sexual battery felonies related to different women. They pleaded not guilty to those charges as well. “For years, they wanted to lure in girls with promises of parties and trips, and when they got there, the defendants raped them. The brothers used whatever means necessary, sometimes drugs, alcohol, sometimes brute force, to carry out their rapes. Some of the victims were underage, some said no, some were incoherent, but none of that mattered to the brothers because they were going to have sex with these victims no matter what,” Ms. Smeyser said in court on Tuesday, as reported by NBC. The prosecutor told the jury she would show a video recording of Oren raping a then-17-year-old girl, who will testify under a pseudonym, and who was, “far from sober, almost incoherent” and has no memory of the incident, Ms. Smeyser said, according to ABC. Orly Alexander, the mother of Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander, arrives for their trial at Manhattan Federal Court on January 27, 2026. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesBut defense attorneys pushed back. Teny Geragos, who recently successfully defended Mr. Combs in his sex trafficking trial held at the same courthouse, and who represents Oren, told the jury that the accusers were not credible witnesses and that some of them have ulterior motives, namely making money from civil lawsuits they filed against the brothers. Other accusers, the defense attorney said, according to the Guardian, felt regret for having taken illegal drugs, and having engaged in sexual encounters with the brothers, while they were in relationships with other men. Ms. Geragos told the jury in her opening statement, “This case is about shame, opportunity and money,” The New York Times reported. She said the brothers were all single, and met the women at nightclubs, in bars and on dating apps. “That’s not trafficking,” Ms. Geragos argued. “That’s dating. That’s hooking up.”Defense Attorney Deanna Paul, who represents Tal, doubled down, telling the jury her client may have been arrogant but that does not make him a criminal. “It was crude, it was arrogant, it will make you cringe,” Ms. Paul said, according to ABC. “But we’re not here for the A—hole Awards.”Shlomi Alexander and Orly Alexander, the parents of Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander, arrive for their trial at Manhattan Federal Court on January 27, 2026. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesHoward Srebnick, a defense lawyer for Alon, did not make an opening statement on Tuesday, The New York Times reported, but said he may address the jury when the defense starts its case later on in the trial. As their first witness, prosecutors called a woman, who testified under the pseudonym “Katie Moore.” She testified that she was raped by Alon, after she met him and his brother Tal at an NBA Finals watch party hosted by actor Zac Efron at his Manhattan penthouse in 2012. “I was a fan of Zac Efron and I wanted to meet him. It seemed like a fun experience,” Ms. Moore told jurors, the New York Post reported. The witness was 20 years old at the time, the outlet detailed, and a student at New York University. She left the party with Alon and Tal and a few other people and they all went to a nightclub, where she was given a drink. This photo provided by Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department shows from left, Alon Alexander and Oren Alexander, both have been charged with sex trafficking, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department via APOren Alexander and Alon Alexander at Hamptons Castle on July 3, 2011. Steven Henry/Getty Images for Sir IvanAccording to the Post, Ms. Moore said that she lost consciousness and woke up undressed in a bed with Alon, also undressed, standing over her. She testified that she told him she did not want to have sex with him, and that he laughed and told her “you already did,” and then violently raped her again. “My ‘no’s’ got louder and more desperate, and that’s when I started crying,” Ms. Moore said, according to the outlet, as she held back tears in the courtroom. She did not make any suggestion that the actor Mr. Efron was aware or in any way involved in the drugging and the rape. Defense attorneys will cross-examine the witness on Wednesday. The trial is expected to last about one month.

‘My ‘No’s’ Got Louder and More Desperate’: Trial of Hard-Partying Alexander Brothers Begins With Woman’s Vivid Description of Rape

‘My ‘No’s’ Got Louder and More Desperate’: Trial of Hard-Partying Alexander Brothers Begins With Woman’s Vivid Description of Rape

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