Howard Lorber (right) with former Elliman broker Oren Alexander, who was accused of rape and sexual assault by more than a dozen women along with his brothers, Tal and Alon.
Photo: Steven Henry/Getty
Howard Lorber, the CEO of brokerage Douglas Elliman, has stepped down, according to a statement from the company on Tuesday.
Lorber has been at the top of Elliman for more than 20 years, overseeing its transition from regional outfit to national luxury behemoth, but his exit was swift, sudden, and without much ceremony. “Douglas Elliman extends its deepest appreciation to Mr. Lorber for his strategic vision and years of dedication and hard work that have made Douglas Elliman the country’s premier real estate brokerage firm, setting new standards in luxury service and innovation,” the company said in a brief statement. His departure was effective immediately.
While the company told the SEC that Lorber’s departure wasn’t “due to ‘any disagreement with the Company’ or any violation of its rules or practices,” it’s hard not to think that the criticism he faced over how he handled employee complaints against brothers Tal and Oren Alexander, former Elliman brokers, might have played a role. The brothers, who headed up a team in the firm until they parted ways and created their own, have been accused since June, along with Oren’s twin, Alon, of rape and sexual assault by more than a dozen women. The allegations were made in lawsuits filed by several alleged victims and in reports in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Business Insider. Additional women alleged to New York in a story published in August that they were the subject of assault by one or more of the Alexanders, which an attorney for the brothers flatly denied.
According to that story, other Elliman brokers said that company higher-ups, including Lorber, might have known about the allegations against the Alexander brothers and did not take them seriously. Jessica Cohen, an Elliman broker who was hospitalized after being handed a drink by the brothers at a party for Lorber’s son Michael in 2010, said she later told Lorber about the incident. She also said that then-CEO Dottie Herman was aware at the time of an anonymous blog circulating online that detailed allegations of an assault by the brothers in high school. Multiple former team members who worked with the Alexanders told New York that the brothers showed images of naked women at the office. “I would put the Alexanders at the top of the list of people who had just a very close personal relationship with Howard,” a former Elliman employee told New York in August. “If they wanted something, they would go straight to him.” A spokesperson for Douglas Elliman responded at the time that the company never received any complaints of sexual assault or harassment concerning the Alexanders and that executives, including Herman, were unaware of the blog post. The company also denied that the Alexander brothers were “close to Mr. Lorber.”
Douglas Elliman is a publicly traded company, and Lorber has been the target of calls for him to be removed from his position since the allegations against the Alexanders were made public. The stock prices of shares in the company have plummeted in recent months and have generally been dropping in value since 2021. A shareholder called for Lorber’s pay to be cut in July: “Stockholders deserve to know how the assault and harassment claims were handled by management,” he wrote.
It was expected that Lorber would retire at the end of the year, so his sudden departure comes as somewhat of a surprise, according to an Elliman insider. “The timing has left a lot of people wondering, Why now? But no one has any facts. It would be irresponsible to say, ‘He left because of the Alexander brothers.’” Lorber was allegedly supposed to speak at two industry events that he was suddenly no longer part of: “That’s not a clean exit.” A Douglas Elliman spokesperson referred to the company’s press release when asked about the timing.
Regardless of why, “it’s good for Douglas Elliman in the long term to get out from under this period,” the insider said. “It felt like the company was on hold until he actually left.”
