Two former luxury real estate brokers and their brother were each sentenced to 30 years in federal prison, seven months after they were convicted of drugging and raping women in a sex trafficking ring.
Federal prosecutors sought life sentences for Oren and Alon Alexander, a pair of former powerful real estate brokers, and their brother, Tal, in a New York City courtroom Tuesday afternoon. Attorneys for the brothers, who have asserted their innocence, asked the judge to give the men the mandatory minimum, instead.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni characterized the brothers as “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” On one side, they were described as gentlemen who loved their children, she said, and on the other, they were described as “sadistic, misogynistic, sexual predators.”
“Your conduct was monstrous,” Caproni said in her sentencing.
But Caproni added that she did not believe the Alexander brothers were beyond redemption, declining the request to give them life sentences.
In addition to 30 years of incarceration, she ordered 10 years of supervised release and sex offender treatment approved by the probation office. They are not to have contact with any child under age 18 unless it is approved by the probation office.
Twins Alon and Oren Alexander, 39, were ordered to pay $300,000 each in fines. Tal Alexander, 40, was ordered to pay $350,000.
Caproni said she will ask the Bureau of Prisons to consult with experts about whether they should be allowed to be held together, as she believes they are bad influences on one another.
The men were found guilty in March of 10 counts, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, after a trial that included testimony from 11 women who described being lured, drugged and sexually assaulted over a period of years.
Six of the women were part of the indictment.
In a sentencing memo, prosecutors in New York’s Southern District said more than 70 women came forward with allegations of abuse and accused the brothers of exploiting their wealth, influence and connections to target victims.
Victim statements from 11 women, some using court-assigned pseudonyms, were read at the hearing before the judge’s decision. The women asked Caproni to impose a sentence that was appropriate for the profound impact the men had on their lives.
One victim, Maya Miller, described the trauma of her rape by Tal Alexander as having settled into her nervous system.
“I carry a quiet funeral inside me,” Miller said.
Another victim, Oli after having had a fraction of one drink while meeting Oren Alexander. She described being raped at least a dozen times while she was terrified and in pain
She then directly addressed the men.
“You are weak. You are inhumane,” Lane said. “You never had power, and look at you now.”
Two women described the men as having almost inhuman eyes during their assaults. Isa Brooks said, “Their eyes went black during the attack, like I was being mauled by animals.” Lane said, “I remember looking at him and seeing a monster, black eyes.”
The women also emphasized the Alexander brothers’ lack of remorse or acknowledgment of their victims throughout the trial. Victim Katie Moore noted in her statement that after five weeks of trial and having been found guilty, the men “cannot even look us in the eye as we speak today.”
“These men spent years treating women and girls like their humanity meant nothing,” Moore said.
The brothers honed their methods together, attacking women in a way that was designed to humiliate and degrade them, prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa said at the sentencing.
“When they were done, they bragged to each other and their friends. … The defendants knew exactly what they were doing, and they did it anyway, and they did it over and over and over again,” she said.
At trial, prosecutors said the brothers raped the women after having promised them parties and trips. One woman testified that she lost control of her body after she had a drink with Alon Alexander at a New York City club.
When she awoke, she testified, they were naked on a bed. She kept trying to get up, and he kept pushing her back down, she said.
When she told him that she didn’t want to have sex with him, she testified, he responded, “‘You already did.'”
In a sentencing submission, attorneys for the brothers acknowledged that they sometimes behaved insensitively toward women but categorically denied that any of them had raped or sexually assaulted anyone.
At trial, the attorneys described the sex as consensual and said the women were motivated in part by financial gain.
“All the stories were rehearsed,” Tal Alexander’s attorney, Deanna Paul, said in her closing argument. “They’re looking for money.”
Paul urged the judge to consider giving her client the mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison, saying the verdict has not changed her view of the evidence. She said 15 years is already an extraordinary punishment, so “what would another 20 or 30 years accomplish?”
Attorneys for the two other brothers similarly asked Caproni to give the men 15 years. Marc Agnifilo, who represents Oren Alexander, told her the men all stopped their “sexually aggressive” behavior after they met their wives.
“All three defendants stopped, and that matters,” Agnifilo said.
Each of the brothers was given an opportunity to address the court directly before he was issued his sentence.
Oren Alexander was the first to ask Caproni for a lighter sentence. He once again denied the assaults in his comments before he assaulted her that he has built a new life and family.
“My son needs me, and I need to be there for him, and I ask your honor to impose the minimum sentence,” he said.
Tal Alexander, who was next to speak, expressed regret over his past actions. “The person who stands in court is not the same man as before,” he said, asking Caproni to consider the entirety of his life in the decision.
“I wish I showed more maturity,” he said. “I cannot undo moments when I was immature and careless with other people’s feelings. I understand the jury found me guilty, and I know words cannot change that.”
The last brother to speak, Alon, insisted that he was innocent and that he had never raped any women. He invoked his two young daughters in asking for the mercy of the court.
“I am afraid of being Daddy in the photograph,” he said.
Caproni appeared unmoved by their statements, emphasizing that the rapes were not a result of “party culture or hookup culture” as they described. She said it was not enough to rape the women — the brothers sought to humiliate them, she asserted.
“That marriage would transform them from sexual predators to normal gentlemen, I disagree,” Caproni said. “Rape is about power. … Having a girlfriend or a wife doesn’t mean you are not going to rape or humiliate women.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
