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Three brothers have each been sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted in a federal case involving the drugging, defilement and trafficking of women. Tal Alexander, 40, and his twin brothers Oren and Alon Alexander, 39, were sentenced on Tuesday, October 27, by US District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan, seven months after their convictions following a six-week trial.
The judge also imposed 20-year sentences for additional convictions but ordered those terms to run concurrently, leaving each brother with a total prison sentence of 30 years. Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, while defence lawyers asked for the mandatory minimum of 15 years.
Before sentencing, women who had accused the brothers addressed the court, describing lasting psychological trauma, nightmares and difficulties trusting others. Several urged Caproni to impose the maximum punishment. “It took one night, only a few hours, one invitation to completely wreck the girl I once was,” one woman, speaking under a pseudonym, told the court.
Prosecutors said at least 70 women had reported being assaulted by one or more of the brothers over many years. Eleven women testified during the trial. The allegations involved incidents in Manhattan, the Hamptons on Long Island and Aspen, Colorado, among other locations.
According to prosecutors, the brothers used their wealth, status and access to luxury properties to attract women to parties and trips, where some were drugged and subjected to defilement. The prosecution said their conduct extended over at least 14 years, with allegations dating back to 2001 or 2002, when the brothers were in high school.
In one incident described by prosecutors, three girls celebrating their final year of high school at an Aspen nightclub in January 2017 were drugged and persuaded to attend a promised after-party at a five-star hotel, where they were assaulted. A woman using the pseudonym Isa Brooks told the sentencing hearing that Tal and Alon subjected her to defilement when she was 16.
“I had no idea the danger I was in till it was too late,” she said. Another woman said Tal threatened her when she considered coming forward, telling her that he knew where her sister worked. Artist and gallery owner Lindsey Acree, who testified about an incident at a Hamptons home in 2011, said a drink had left her feeling paralysed before she was subjected to defilement by Tal and another man.
Addressing the court, Acree said even a life sentence would not repair the harm experienced by the women. “The biggest thing is why? Why did you do this?” she asked. “I don’t understand the cruelty. I don’t understand the hatred towards women.” Another woman, who testified about an incident involving Tal in August 2014, said she carried “a quiet funeral in me for the person I might have become had this not happened to me”.
A further speaker described a Hamptons property where she was assaulted as “a mansion of horror, a mansion of dark secrets”. Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Espinosa argued that the brothers’ repeated conduct and the lasting consequences for the women justified life sentences. “For years, they honed their methods of luring women with the promise of luxury,” she said, adding that they were “completely unmoved by the path of suffering they left behind them”.
Espinosa also praised the women who came forward despite fears that they would be blamed or disbelieved. “Women overcame all the forces telling them this was their fault, they should stay quiet, that no one would believe them,” she said. The brothers showed little outward emotion during the statements, looking ahead or speaking with their lawyers. Their legal representatives said they had advised them not to look at the women to avoid having their reactions misinterpreted.
None of the brothers testified during the trial, but all three addressed the court before sentencing and continued to maintain their innocence. Oren said he regretted remarks he had made about women when he was younger but denied that he or his brothers had drugged, assaulted or trafficked anyone. “I am not here to discount what they have said,” he told the court, referring to the women.
