Despite offering exorbitant bail packages, the brothers failed to persuade prosecutors to grant a bond. They will be kept in jail until their trial.
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Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander failed to convince federal prosecutors Wednesday to plead guilty to sex trafficking charges.
During a detention hearing Wednesday, Judge Valerie Caproni of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the ruling, The Miami Herald report. In December, investigators arrested the brothers in Florida after they were indicted on allegations that the three were involved in a long-term sex-trafficking scheme dating back to at least 2010.
In the federal cases against the brothers, a Florida judge granted bail to Oren and Alon, with the caveat that the bail agreement could be voided if federal officials ruled that they should not be granted bail. According to Judge Caproni’s decision on Wednesday, Oren and Alon will not be released on bail.
In those cases, Oren and Alon were given bail of $3 million and two million dollars, but when it came time to negotiate with the federal prosecutors for bail, they did not agree to the terms proposed by the brothers, even after giving them an exorbitant amount of money “any court. value,” supported by all their possessions and that of their families. They also promised that they would be monitored by a private security company while they were under house arrest.
The brothers’ lawyers tried to prove that they were not a flight risk, which the government prosecutors stuck to throughout their trial, talking about their families in Israel. Defense attorneys also tried to compare this case to that of rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein’s confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, who were arrested for similar crimes. Bloomberg report.
Tal’s lawyers pointed out that Combs was also charged with obstruction of justice by trying to coerce witnesses – a charge the brothers did not face. Still, federal prosecutors seem serious about how brothers, like Combs and Epstein, use their wealth and privilege to lure victims.
Oren also took the unusual step of offering as evidence to prosecutors a polygraph test administered by former FBI agent, James Orr. Orr concluded that Oren was correct in answering these questions:
- Did you sleep with him? [victim-2] and do you know that you were secretly given drugs?
- In New York, you have slept with him [victim-2] and do you know that you were secretly given drugs?
- Do you have any kind of sex [victim-2] and do you know that he was secretly given drugs?
- In New York, did you ever sleep with him [victim-2] and do you know that he was secretly given drugs?
However, there were no questions about other suspects involved in the case. There was no evidence that such a poly test was given to Tal or Alon.
The brothers will be booked into state prison and will be arraigned at a later date. They face a minimum sentence of 15 years or more in prison.
Tal, Oren and Alon continued to deny the allegations against them, saying that any encounters they had with the women were consensual.
Earlier this week it was revealed that a hard drive was found during a search of Tal’s Manhattan apartment that contained video footage of at least one of the brothers and another man “cheating.[ing] women’s bodies” to have sex with them, despite the fact that it was clear that women “did not actively participate” or “turned away.”
The brothers have been the recipients of dozens of women’s allegations of sexual harassment and rape in the past few months through lawsuits and accounts that have come to light, but the hard drive appears to be the first piece of evidence against them to be made public.
In addition to the sexual harassment and sex trafficking claims against them, Tal and Oren were also sued by Side, the white label company that supported their luxury label, Officer. The side alleges that Tal, Oren and Official Partners failed to borrow $4.6 million, paying that company now may be difficult due to their corporate costs. Tal and Oren also denied that the charges were serious.
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Email Lillian Dickerson
