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A federal judge said a two-decade pattern of alleged sex trafficking by two luxury real estate brokers and their brother was not “just men behaving badly,” as she largely upheld their indictments and rejected defense efforts to downplay the seriousness of the crimes involving dozens of women.
In an open opinion on Wednesday, October 17, Judge Valerie E. Caproni expressed skepticism about some of the arguments presented by defense attorneys when trying to dismiss the charges.
“As much as defendants may wish to characterize the alleged conduct as solely male-dominated behavior, the indictment does not allege such conduct,” he wrote.
He said the charges allege that “three adult men conspired to lure women and girls to travel domestically and sometimes internationally to luxury hotels, where they were drugged and sometimes physically restrained before they were raped or sexually assaulted.”
Caproni dismissed one count of attempted sex trafficking, finding that the five-year statute of limitations had expired.
Three brothers – Oren, Tal and Alon Alexander – remain jailed without bail after pleading not guilty to the charges manhattan Federal Court.
Oren Alexander and Tal Alexander sold high-end properties new york City, miami And los angeles Before charges were filed, he was alleged to have used his wealth and influence to attack women from 2002 to 2021.
A defense attorney said last week that the defense plans to show the jury that witnesses are lying at a trial scheduled for early January. The judge has said that she can postpone the hearing till May.
Caproni rejected the defense’s claim that the alleged crimes committed by the brothers were like “date rape” charges, which are typically prosecuted in state courts.
“It grossly misrepresents the nature of the allegations,” the judge wrote.
He said the charges make clear that the alleged crimes were “not sexual assaults that occurred casually” when a group of people in their 20s and 30s were out on vacation, on dates or at parties.
At a hearing last week, defense attorney Mark Agnifilo said the jury will hear evidence in the trial about group sex, threesomes and promiscuity.
“The issue is about sex and sexuality,” he said.
In court documents, defense attorneys wrote that among the accusers they expect to testify at trial, they have received evidence that “undermines nearly every aspect of the alleged victims’ stories.”
He said he believed “many witnesses are going to testify falsely in a direct investigation – whether it’s because of their own current situation, their motive to lie for monetary gain, or because of their situation at the time.”
These witnesses, the lawyers said, “did not want to admit to the world that they engaged in consensual sexual activity with any of the Alexander brothers.”
But Caproni wrote that she failed to understand how certain categories of information cited by the defense could refute the charges, such as evidence that the victims continued to have contact or interact with the brothers or that they initiated contact with them.
She noted that some of the messages cited by the defense regarding one accused were contradicted by other messages, including one message in which she expressed that she did not know how someone could dislike her so much that they would harm her.