Alon Alexander, one among three brothers going through federal sex-trafficking fees, was denied bail in a Miami courtroom on Friday after a choose dominated that his request for residence detention posed too nice a danger that he would flee from the nation.
Mr. Alexander should now be transferred to New York, the place the costs have been introduced final month by Damien Williams, the USA legal professional for the Southern District of New York, and James E. Dennehy, head of the FBI’s New York workplace. His brother Oren Alexander may have one other listening to on the identical difficulty in Miami on Tuesday after one among his legal professionals requested for a health-related extension.
Oren and Alon, twins who’re 37 years outdated, were arrested in Miami Beach in December together with their older brother Tal Alexander, 38, after months of mounting public allegations. All three are accused of utilizing their wealth and standing to lure, drug and sexually assault dozens of ladies, based on an indictment launched the day of their arrest. They’re anticipated to be arraigned and enter pleas in federal court docket in Manhattan.
Till this summer time, Oren and Tal Alexander have been among the many most profitable actual property brokers within the nation. Identified for brokering multimillion-dollar offers in New York and Miami, they rose to the highest positions at Douglas Elliman, one of many nation’s largest brokerages. In 2019 they helped dealer the sale of a virtually $240 million Manhattan penthouse—on the time, the costliest residential sale in U.S. historical past. They later co-founded their very own actual property brokerage, Official. Alon Alexander, Oren’s twin, is an govt on the household’s non-public safety agency.
Along with the federal intercourse trafficking fees, the twins additionally face state fees in Florida for sexual assault stemming from three separate incidents. Oren Alexander faces fees in all three. Alon Alexander is going through fees of 1.
Oren and Alon Alexander have been in court docket Friday, as have been their mother and father, Shlomo and Orli Alexander; Alon Alexander’s spouse, Shani Zigron; and Oren Alexander’s spouse, Camila Hansen, who just lately gave start to the couple’s first youngster. The brothers arrived in khaki jail fits and wrist and ankle shackles. Orly Alexander could possibly be seen crying as her sons entered the courtroom; Camila Hansen and Shani Zygron, each trend fashions, wore face masks. Shlomo Alexander placed on a yarmulke within the presence of the choose, however took it off instantly after the listening to.
Shlomo and Orli Alexander immigrated to the USA from Israel earlier than their sons have been born and so they turned self-made millionaires. Orly Alexander runs Kent Safety Providers, the household enterprise, together with his brother Gil Neumann. Shlomo Alexander is a building contractor. The couple owns a waterfront mansion in Miami’s unique Bal Harbor neighborhood that’s estimated to be value round $14 million.
Friday marked the second bond listening to for Alon and Oren Alexander. On Monday, Howard Srebrnik, an legal professional for Alon Alexander, advised Justice of the Peace Decide Eduardo Sanchez that the household was prepared to submit limitless bail to safe the twins’ early launch, including that they might not object to bail set at $1 billion, even to go away the household in poverty. In addition they supplied to pay for surveillance of personal detention facilities by V2 International, a safety firm whose shareholders embrace Jim Milford, a former deputy administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Donald De Luca, a former Miami Seaside police chief.
Decide Sanchez stated he would want a number of days to think about the request and ordered a second listening to. The federal government then despatched a letter signed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Miami describing the household’s proposal as a “non-public jail” that “makes an attempt to make use of their wealth to hunt particular therapy.”
On Friday, Mr. Srebnik introduced a more durable supply to Decide Sanchez: The household would pay any bail quantity, irrespective of how excessive, and Alon Alexander could be confined to a two-bedroom house in Miami beneath 24-hour surveillance by V2 International .
Elizabeth Espinosa, a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, argued that holding the brothers in a non-public residence would permit them to go away the nation earlier than trial, evaluating Alexander’s case to different high-profile intercourse trafficking instances, together with Sean Combs and Jeffrey Epstein. the place non-public detention was supplied by the accused and refused by the judges.
“There may be completely each incentive to flee right here,” Ms. Espinosa stated. “All non-public safety can do is barely scale back that lead. They can’t stop it.”
Decide Sanchez stated he was additionally involved concerning the danger of flight, in addition to the “two-tier justice system, one for the wealthy and one for individuals who aren’t wealthy”, and ordered Alon Alexander to stay in custody.
Oren Alexander was then known as earlier than the choose. However Richard Klug, one among his legal professionals, requested the court docket for an extension, citing well being issues that prevented him from assembly his shopper sufficiently earlier than the listening to. Decide Sanchez granted the request, scheduling Oren Alexander’s third detention listening to for Tuesday.
Chatting with reporters exterior the courtroom after the listening to, Mr. Srebnik stated he was “clearly upset” by the choice however believed that when all three brothers arrived in New York, a choose there would rethink granting bail so they might “work with their attorneys and never face the abominable circumstances within the Brooklyn subway detention middle.
He added that he believes the greater than 40 ladies who’ve come ahead to accuse the brothers of assault and rape are a “win”. Requested if he believed the ladies have been mendacity about their tales, Mr Srebnik stated: “Sure. Each single one among them.”
In accordance with the federal indictment, the three brothers participated within the sex-trafficking scheme for not less than 14 years. Coordinating with different males, they organized occasions and home and worldwide journeys as bait to recruit, lure and transport ladies they later raped, the indictment stated.
Friday’s listening to was just like Tal Alexander’s in December, when the household supplied to submit $115 million in bail to safe his early launch, utilizing the Bal Harbor residence and Kent Safety Providers headquarters as collateral. Federal Justice of the Peace Lisette M. Reed, introduced that Tal Alexander was a flight danger and the supply was declined.
