The women who accused the Alexander brothers of sexual assault say the trauma continues to shape their lives.
In a Manhattan federal courtroom on Oct. 27, the survivors spoke directly to twins Alon and Oren Alexander and their older brother, Tal. A judge later sentenced the siblings to 30 years in prison on charges that included conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sexual abuse.
“I carry a quiet funeral in me,” one woman said, according to The New York Post. “For the person I might have become had this not happened to me.”
She described the alleged assault by Tal in a shower as an experience in which “every second” stretched into “an eternity of terror.”
Many of the women became emotional as they addressed the brothers individually, describing the devastating experiences they said followed encounters with the affluent siblings.
One survivor, who testified during the trial about being sexually assaulted at a Hamptons estate, told the court that the property’s beauty concealed something horrifying. “What looked like a beautiful place became for me a mansion of horror, a mansion of dark secrets,” she said.
Another woman, identified at trial by the pseudonym Isa Brooks, spoke about being sexually assaulted when she was 16, according to CNN.
“I cry for the innocence of that terrified 16-year-old and stand for her today,” Brooks said. Recalling the encounter, she added, “Their eyes went black. As if I was being mauled by animals.”
Lindsey Acree, an artist and gallery owner, testified that she was at a Hamptons residence in 2011 when she was given a drink and later felt unable to move. She said Tal Alexander and another man then raped her.
“The biggest thing is why? Why did you do this?” Acree asked, according to The Associated Press. “I don’t understand the cruelty. I don’t understand the hatred towards women.”
What Were the Alexander Brothers Accused Of?
Prosecutors have alleged that, over a period of years, the wealthy brothers used their status and connections to drug and sexually assault dozens of women.
In a sentencing memorandum provided to Oxygen, prosecutors rejected descriptions of the men as simply “party boys, playboys, womanizers, or misguided young men.” Instead, they called the siblings predators who “spent years hunting and preying upon women because they wanted to, because they could, and because they kept getting away with it.”
According to prosecutors, more than 70 women came forward with what they described as harrowing accounts of assaults involving the brothers.
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Prosecutors said the siblings developed and repeatedly used a pattern that involved luring women with promises of luxury, secretly drugging them until they could not resist, and then forcibly raping them. “The defendants carried out their playbook time and time again, drugging, raping, and assaulting dozens of victims,” they wrote.
The brothers were convicted in March on multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. The allegations covered conduct from 2008 through 2021, when the siblings primarily lived in New York and Miami, Fla.
Oren and Tal built careers as luxury real estate brokers serving celebrities and ultrawealthy clients, while Alon was involved in running his family’s private security company.
Alexander Brothers Maintain Their Innocence at Sentencing
Despite the convictions, all three brothers continued to assert their innocence during the Oct. 27 hearing before U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni.
Alon told the court, according to CNN, that he had never drugged a woman or knowingly had sex with someone who had been secretly drugged. “I’m not a perfect man, but I’m innocent of these charges,” he said.
His twin, Oren, said he felt “greatly ashamed” of how he behaved before meeting his wife and starting a family, but he denied raping or drugging anyone. He attributed his past conduct to the pickup culture and party lifestyle of that period.
“I was partying too much and sleeping with too many women during those years,” Oren said. He added that his life changed after he met “the most beautiful inside and out perfect woman,” whom he described as his soulmate and the person he wanted to be the mother of his children.
Tal Alexander asked the judge for “mercy,” requesting that he be allowed to serve out his sentence at the same prison as Oren and Alon.
“I hope Your Honor can understand how difficult it is to stand here, facing the possibility of spending the rest of my life in prison, trying to find words to express genuine regret without confessing something I did not do,” he said, according to the outlet. “I’m asking you to please consider my whole life, my family and the possibility of my future beyond this case.”
Alexander Brothers Are Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison
However, Caproni clapped back at their claims of innocence, telling the brothers, “your conduct was monstrous.”
She sentenced the men to 30 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. They were also ordered to participate in a sex offender treatment program in prison, ABC News reported.
“Today’s sentence makes clear that this craven, sinister conduct is extraordinarily serious and will be met with serious punishment,” U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald remarked in a statement. “Our Office is proud to seek justice on behalf of victims, and we are deeply grateful to the brave victims in this case who came forward to ensure that the defendants can no longer harm others.”
Prosecutors had asked for the brothers to be sentenced to life, while the defense had argued for the minimum sentence of 15 years.