Ohad Fisherman, a Miami real estate broker who was accused of participating in an alleged sexual assault in 2016, had the charge dropped on Monday after he produced time-stamped video evidence showing that he was aboard a boat very close to the same time a woman said she had been attacked.
The surprise dismissal came a day before Mr. Fisherman, 39, was to appear in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on one count of sexual battery.
It was another twist in the sprawling state and federal cases against the real estate agents Oren and Tal Alexander and their brother Alon Alexander, all of whom were arrested in December on federal sex trafficking charges. Oren and Tal Alexander were real estate brokers behind some of the flashiest deals in both New York and Miami, and Alon Alexander, Oren’s twin, regularly socialized with them. The three brothers were accused of using their wealth and status to lure, drug and then sexually assault dozens of women, according to a federal indictment.
The men now face both state and federal charges stemming from accusations made by multiple women dating back to 2009. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Prosecutors had said that Mr. Fisherman was an accomplice of Oren and Alon Alexander in one of the state charges. Mr. Fisherman, who maintained his innocence, was accused of holding down a woman, known only as M.W. in court records, while Oren and Alon Alexander took turns assaulting her on New Year’s Eve 2016.
Mr. Fisherman surrendered to the authorities days after the Alexanders were arrested in the federal sex trafficking case. He told prosecutors that he was on a boat cruising the waters of Miami Beach at the time of the alleged assault, and produced a video that was uploaded to Facebook around 9 p.m. that night showing him on the water.
The video provided a sufficient alibi, prosecutors said.
“We determined in good faith that we could not prove the case against Ohad Fisherman beyond and to the exclusion of all reasonable doubt,” the state attorney in Miami-Dade County, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, wrote in a media release on Monday. “The defendant’s presence at the scene of the crime is an essential element of proof and this video evidence casts doubt on that proof.”
Jeffrey Sloman, a lawyer for Mr. Fisherman, said that his client had been “totally exonerated,” and that the news, just one day before jury selection for Mr. Fisherman’s trial was set to begin, had come as a surprise.
Oren and Alon Alexander remain charged in the alleged assault, Ms. Rundle’s wrote, noting that her decision does not affect their case.
In addition to the one state charge of sexual battery that had previously involved Mr. Fisherman, Oren Alexander faces two additional state charges of sexual assault. And all three brothers face multiple federal charges of sex trafficking and abuse. They are currently in federal custody in New York and set to stand trial for those charges, which include alleged crimes against seven women, including an underage girl.
Lawyers for both Oren and Alon Alexander celebrated the news on Monday and said that with Mr. Fisherman’s case being dropped, their clients would be vindicated as well.
“We look forward to proving Oren and Alon’s innocence if and when this case goes to trial,” the lawyers, Edward O’Donnell IV and Joel Denaro, said in a statement on Monday. “They’re as innocent as Ohad.”
Mr. Fisherman, who was born in Israel and became an American citizen in 2023, according to his lawyer, moved to New York City in 2012 and later started a hummus company. From 2016 to 2020, he worked for Douglas Elliman, the brokerage where Oren and Tal Alexander also worked. In 2020, he moved to Miami, where he continues to work as a broker. Last year, he represented the buyer in the sale of the six-bedroom Miami condo rented by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
Debra Kamin reports on real estate, covering what it means to buy, sell and own a home in America today.
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