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As one steps into the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, remnants of a recent snowstorm linger on the plaza, a testament to the relentless cold that has gripped the city for over a week. Inside, the atmosphere is no less frigid, as the trial of the Alexander brothers unfolds with chilling intensity.
Now entering its second week, the courtroom drama centers around Tal, 39, Oren, 38, and Alon, 38, Miami-based siblings who have been depicted in the media as playboys. They sit at the defense table, facing grave accusations from multiple women who allege they were victims of rape and other violent sexual assaults at the hands of the brothers.
Jurors have listened to the accusers deliver sometimes tearful and distressing testimony. The women recounted being drugged, overpowered, or secretly filmed while they were barely conscious, painting a harrowing picture of their experiences.
Adding to the courtroom’s tense atmosphere, the proceedings took another dramatic turn on Monday. The defense’s request for a mistrial was denied by the judge, following the disclosure of newly unsealed documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein. These files not only mentioned the brothers attending parties hosted by the notorious financier but also included separate, unproven allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor.
On Monday, the judge denied a defense request for a mistrial after the brothers’ names surfaced in the latest tranche of newly unsealed Jeffrey Epstein files. The documents included allegations that the brothers attended parties hosted by the late pedophile financier, along with a separate unproven allegation of sexual misconduct involving a minor.
Despite the gravity of the charges they are facing, the Alexander family has been strikingly composed and confident since the trial began.
But that facade appeared to crack this week.
On Tuesday night, as the Daily Mail’s photographer captured the brothers’ parents coming down the courthouse steps, their father, Shlomi Alexander, suddenly lunged toward the camera.
Before being accused of drugging and raping dozens of women, brothers Oren (left), Tal (second left) and Alon Alexander (middle right) lived a lavish life of private jets and luxury homes in New York and MiamiÂ
With a scarf wrapped around his face and sunglasses concealing his eyes, our photos show Shlomi sprinting forward with his arms outstretched. His wife Orly Alexander watches on.
The confrontation underscored the mounting strain surrounding the high-stakes trial for the Alexander family, which was once celebrated as a dynasty of wealth and influence among Manhattan and Miami’s elite.
All three brothers are being held without bail and face sentences that could amount to life imprisonment if convicted. Each has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege that Tal and Oren Alexander – luxury real-estate brokers who operated in Manhattan and Miami – and their brother Alon, a former executive at their parents’ private security firm, used their wealth, access and status to drug, rape and assault dozens of women as part of a sprawling sex-trafficking conspiracy lasting more than a decade.
Last week in court, the brothers and their loved ones appeared calm – trading smiles and gestures throughout the proceedings.
The seemingly jovial tone of the Alexander clan drew rebuke from a court marshal, who warned them not to talk or whisper while the court was in session, react to testimony, or stare at witnesses as they entered or left the courtroom.
‘Respect the institution and what it stands for,’ the marshal warned, adding that any violations would result in immediate ejection for the remainder of the trial.
One supporter was later escorted out during testimony and did not return.
Their father Shlomi Alexander lunges at the Daily Mail’s photographer outside Manhattan federal courtÂ
Shlomi left the court with wife Orly and picked up the pace when he saw our photographerÂ
As Orly conceals her face, her husband charges at us and grunts in an apparent attempt at intimidationÂ
Orly looks on grimly as she arrived at court – where her sons’ sex trafficking trial intensified
This week, the marshal’s warning appears to have been heeded.
On Wednesday, the three siblings strode into the courtroom – each dressed in dark suits without ties – with Alon flashing a peace sign to a familiar face seated behind his parents, Shlomi and his wife Orly.
Supporters have dwindled since the opening week. Shlomi and Orly occupied the largely empty second row, with two relatives sitting between them. The couple has rarely sat together during the trial.
Alon’s wife, fashion model Shani Zigron, has been a mainstay in the courtroom alongside her in-laws. Wearing an all-white knitted sweatsuit and black alligator-skin heeled boots, Zigron sat two rows back alone, making notes in a pink diary.
Oren’s wife, Kamila Hansen, has been in court twice, appearing last week in a fur coat.
Tal Alexander is currently going through a divorce from his estranged wife, Arielle, who filed to separate within weeks of his December 2024 arrest – and after the birth of their first child. Arielle has not appeared in court.
Wednesday morning began with testimony from an alleged victim appearing under the pseudonym Rhonda Stone, who claimed she was drugged and raped by Alon and Oren Alexander during a three-day party cruise from Miami to the Bahamas in January 2012.
Stone, now 37, told the court she encountered the twins during a late-night DJ set in the ship’s auditorium.
She claimed she approached them hoping to buy MDMA for herself and her friends. Stone alleged they told her she would need to return to their cabin to get it.
Stone followed the brothers back to a room with another woman she did not know.
Once inside, Stone testified that one of the brothers handed her a mixed drink. She sipped it and quickly began to feel strange, she said.
Stone said she got up to leave when the other woman attempted to kiss her. She said ‘No,’ and claims one of the twins – she could not identify which – pulled her onto a bed and started kissing her.
Alon’s wife, fashion model Shani Zigron, has been a mainstay in the courtroom
For the first time, she was moved to tears on Wednesday as she viewed images of the FBI raid on her Miami mansion
Shortly afterward, Stone said she began to feel extremely intoxicated and lost control of her body. She testified she felt sober before entering the cabin.
The next thing she remembers, Stone tearfully told the court, was waking up naked with one of the twins on top of her, allegedly raping her.
The other twin was having sex with the other woman in the bed next to her, she claimed.
Describing her memories as ‘brief flashes,’ Stone recounted how she remembered the brothers going ‘back and forth,’ taking turns to allegedly rape her.
Then 23, Stone said she felt paralyzed with fear and unable to move or speak.
She had no recollection of leaving the room and remembered little of the following day.
Stone did not report the allegations to ship security, seek medical attention, or tell her sister or friends at the time.
On cross-examination, defense attorneys pressed Stone on gaps in her memory and highlighted images taken hours after the alleged assault, appearing to show her continuing to party, including at a DJ set on land the following day.
Stone testified she never slept, had little recollection of the next day and felt out of control of her body for hours.
She recalled a brief exchange with one of the brothers the following day. She claims he invited her back to her cabin, but she refused because she ‘didn’t want to be alone’ with them again.
Stone has not filed a civil lawsuit and is not seeking compensation.Â
Shani leaves the courtroom Tuesday with two other women who had come to support the brothers
Shani, pictured with Alon, left, and Oren’s wife, Kamila Hansen, seen right
She told the jury she felt ‘compelled’ to testify after defense attorneys publicly suggested women were making allegations for money.
Monday and Tuesday saw two different women testify, also claiming they were drugged and raped by the Alexanders.
The first was a woman referred to under the pseudonym Amelia Rosen, who claims she was a 17-year-old aspiring model from Ukraine in 2009 when Oren, then 21, and a second man recorded themselves engaging in sexual activity with her in a Manhattan apartment.
Rosen said she had no memory of the encounter and first learned of the video when contacted by federal prosecutors.
The video shows Rosen naked, stumbling and at times unable to move, prosecutors said.
A second accuser and fellow Ukrainian native who testified under the pseudonym Bella Koval told the court she was allegedly drugged and raped in 2016 at a $13 million mansion rented by the Alexanders in the Hamptons.
Another woman, Maya Miller, claimed to have been raped at the same property two years earlier in testimony shared last week.
Testimony will continue next week.