Two former luxury real estate brokers and their brother are set to be sentenced Tuesday in a New York City courtroom, seven months after they were convicted of drugging and raping women in a sex trafficking ring.
Federal prosecutors are seeking life sentences for Oren and Alon Alexander, two former powerful real estate brokers, and their brother Tal.
Lawyers for the brothers, who have proclaimed their innocence, are seeking 15-year prison sentences for each accused.
The men were convicted in March of 10 counts, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and forcible sex trafficking, following a trial that included testimony from 11 women who described being lured, drugged and sexually assaulted over several years.
Six of the women were included in the indictment.
In a sentencing memo, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York said more than 70 women filed abuse complaints and accused the brothers of exploiting their wealth, influence and connections to target victims.
Victim impact statements from 11 women, some using court-assigned pseudonyms, were read at the hearing before the judge’s decision. The women asked the judge to impose a sentence appropriate to the profound impact the men had on their lives.
One victim, Maya Miller, described the trauma of her rape by Tal Alexander as settling into her nervous system.
“I carry a quiet funeral with me,” Miller said.
Another victim, Olivia Lane, told the judge she was “deeply incapacitated” and had had a fraction of a drink during her encounter with Oren Alexander. She described being raped at least a dozen times while she was terrified and in pain.
She then addressed the men directly.
“You are weak, you are inhumane,” Lane said. “You never had any power and look at you now.”
Two women described the men as having almost inhuman eyes during their attacks. Isa Brooks said: “Their eyes turned black during the attack, as if I was being mauled by animals.” Lane said: “I remember looking at it and seeing a monster with black eyes.”
The women also highlighted the Alexander brothers’ lack of remorse and acknowledgment of their victims throughout the trial. Victim Katie Moore noted in her statement that after five weeks of trial and being found guilty, the men “can’t even look us in the eye as we speak today.”
“These men spent years treating women and girls as if their humanity meant nothing,” Moore said.
The brothers perfected their methods together, attacking women in a way intended to humiliate and degrade them, prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa said during sentencing.
“When they were finished, they bragged to each other and to their friends…the defendants knew exactly what they were doing and they did it anyway and they did it again and again,” Espinosa said.
At trial, prosecutors said the brothers raped the women after promising them parties and trips. A woman said she lost control of her body after having drinks with Alon Alexander at a New York club.
When she woke up, she testified, they were naked on a bed. She continued to try to get up and he continued to push her back, she said.
When she told him she didn’t want to have sex with him, she testified, he responded, “‘You’ve already done it.’ »
In their sentencing submission, the brothers’ lawyers acknowledged that they sometimes behaved insensitively toward women, but categorically denied that any of them raped or sexually assaulted anyone.
At trial, lawyers described the sex as consensual and said the women were motivated in part by financial gain.
“All the stories have been repeated,” Tal Alexander’s attorney, Deanna Paul, said in her closing argument. “They’re looking for money.”
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