Federal prosecutors said on Friday that they planned to drop two charges against the Alexander brothers, citing a pattern of intimidation against witnesses set to testify in the sex-trafficking case in Manhattan federal court.
“We don’t plan to proceed to the jury with counts six and seven,” Madison Smyser, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Judge Valerie E. Caproni on Friday. The jury was not present.
The two counts concern a sex-trafficking charge against all three brothers — Oren, Alon and Tal Alexander — stemming from an incident in June 2009. Two witnesses linked to the charges, referred to in court documents as Victim-4 and Victim-5, had been expected to testify at the brothers’ trial, but have not. The prosecution intends to rest their case on Monday.
If Judge Caproni approves the dismissal, the brothers would still face 10 counts, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. The men have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they could face life in prison.
Federal prosecutors argue that the brothers violently raped and sexually assaulted dozens of women over more than 20 years. In some cases, the indictment says, they drugged victims before attacking them.
Two of the three, Oren Alexander, 38, and Tal Alexander, 39, were among the top-earning real estate brokers in the United States, regularly closing million-dollar deals. The third brother, Alon Alexander, 38, is Oren’s twin. He did not work in real estate, but was a regular on the Manhattan and Miami party alongside his brothers.
Two women accused the brothers of sexual assault in 2024. A flurry of other rape accusations followed the first, and the three brothers were arrested in December 2024.
The counts the prosecutors asked to dismiss on Friday involve claims by two women who said the three brothers transported them across state lines in June 2009 and then forced them to engage in sex. Court filings and public comments by the judge and prosecutors suggest a pattern of intimidation against at least one of the women.
Weeks before the trial began, a private investigator working for the defense pretended to be an insurance agent and approached neighbors near Victim-4’s home and asked questions about her minor children, prosecutors wrote in a January court filing.
Such conduct “crossed ethical lines,” prosecutors wrote in the memo. “These boundary-crossing investigative efforts that implicate victim family members and safety may very well result in the unavailability of government’s witnesses — a fact that defense counsel is undoubtedly aware.”
Judge Caproni addressed the “investigator issue” on the trial’s first day, chastising the defense lawyers. “Let me put it this way,” she said. “This better not repeat.”
But neither Victim-4 nor Victim-5 have testified, and prosecutors made it clear that the charges will be dropped.
“We are in this position because of what happened,” Ms. Smyser told the judge on Friday. “What happened with regard to the defense investigators.”
Jason Goldman, a lawyer for Oren and Alon, suggested there was nothing unusual about the prosecutors’ request.
“Prosecutors routinely withdraw or drop charges when evidentiary, factual, or legal issues lead them to conclude that they cannot meet their burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Mr. Goldman said. “That is precisely how the justice system is designed to function. To suggest or imply anything beyond that is just noise to drum up sensational, albeit unfounded speculation.”
Debra Kamin is an investigative reporter for The Times who covers wealth and power in New York.
The post Prosecutors Plan to Drop Some Charges Against Alexander Brothers appeared first on New York Times.
