For greater than a decade, Oren Alexander was one of many greatest names in ultraluxury actual property in Miami and New York Metropolis. He helped to dealer the record-setting 2019 buy of a penthouse at 220 Central Park South, a deal closed for practically $240 million.
The true property empire that he helped to construct within the sky in multimillion-dollar perches of glass and metal in each cities is now crumbling underneath mounting allegations of violent sexual assault.
Mr. Alexander, 36, was accused in two separate lawsuits filed earlier this yr of sexually assaulting two girls greater than a decade in the past. Oren’s similar twin brother, Alon, an govt in a personal safety agency, can be named as a defendant in each complaints.
The twins are accused of collectively sexually assaulting two girls in separate incidents — one girl says she was assaulted at a celebration mansion within the Hamptons and the opposite says she was drugged after which assaulted in Manhattan.
On Monday, Isabelle Kirshner, a lawyer for Oren and Alon Alexander, defended the brothers and described the complaints as cash grabs in an announcement to The New York Occasions. “It’s disappointing [but not surprising] that plaintiffs’ counsel is resorting to their identical generic playbook — file equally fantastical boilerplate claims in opposition to supposedly deep-pocketed people with out regard to the precise info or fact,” she wrote within the assertion. “In reality, our preliminary investigation of the claims has uncovered clear and irrefutable proof that vindicates the Alexanders, which we sit up for presenting in courtroom.”
Oren Alexander, together with his older brother Tal Alexander, made a reputation for himself in big-money actual property, together with with the record-setting penthouse. They co-founded Official, a brokerage that caters to ultrawealthy purchasers.
The brothers, with Alon practically at all times alongside them, have been a fixture on the nightlife scenes of Miami and New York, showing commonly in Web page Six dispatches and in a write-up on their weekend routine in The New York Occasions.
Tal Alexander, 37, isn’t named within the complaints, however Evan Torgan, founding companion of the agency Torgan Cooper + Aaron, which is representing each girls, stated that since final week, he has fielded extra accusations of sexual assault in opposition to all three brothers. “The flood of cellphone calls and emails remains to be coming,” Mr. Torgan stated.
Tal Alexander declined to remark, however in an e-mail obtained by The New York Occasions that he despatched on Sunday to his co-workers at Official, he addressed the allegations.
“I discover the actions described in these information tales to be reprehensible, and I’d by no means act or behave in such a way. Any allegations on the contrary are merely unfaithful,” he stated within the e-mail. It additionally stated, “I’ve little doubt that given my shut relationship with my brothers, at some juncture, a lawyer or many attorneys will quickly attempt to lump me in with the allegations in opposition to Alon and Oren.”
The complaints have been filed simply earlier than the expiration of a statute of limitations of civil sexual assault instances in New York, and first reported in The Actual Deal, an actual property commerce publication, earlier this month.
Mr. Torgan stated he had met with girls who say they have been assaulted in New York Metropolis and the Hamptons, in addition to in Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Florida. A few of the allegations date again so far as 2004, when Oren and Alon have been highschool college students in Miami.
“Numerous girls didn’t come ahead immediately as a result of quite a lot of them felt accountable. A few of them have been on dates when this occurred,” Mr. Torgan stated.
Tal and Oren based the Alexander Crew, a division inside Douglas Elliman Actual Property, in 2012.
In 2021, one yr earlier than they left Elliman to launch their very own brokerage, the Alexander Crew reported greater than $1.8 billion in gross sales.
They began Official, in 2022, alongside Nicole Oge, a former advertising and marketing govt for each Douglas Elliman and WeWork, and two different co-founders. In 2023, the Alexander brothers introduced $260 million in closed offers, and have been included within the Hollywood Reporter’s 2023 Energy Brokers listing of high brokers in New York Metropolis.
In an inside memo despatched to Official workers on Friday and shared with The New York Occasions, Ms. Oge wrote that the brokerage’s values “have been deeply violated when the disturbing allegations in opposition to our former companion Oren Alexander have been uncovered. They run counter to all the pieces we stand for as a corporation.”
She added that “Oren was instantly remoted from the enterprise, his licenses have been separated, and the method of eradicating him from possession is nicely underway.”
Final week, Oren Alexander introduced he was stepping away from his position at Official, and by Friday, his {photograph} and bio had been faraway from the corporate’s web site.
As of Saturday, Official had deactivated his actual estates licenses in each Florida and New York and Oren relinquished his minority stake within the firm, Ms. Oge confirmed. Emails despatched to his Official deal with obtained an auto reply that he was not affiliated with the brokerage.
Among the many reactions from brokers and others in the actual property business have been questions of how the allegations took so lengthy to floor. One of many two girls who’ve filed lawsuits accuses each Oren and Alon of assaulting her at Sir Ivan’s Fort, a celebration mansion within the Southhampton city of Water Mill. The opposite alleges she was drugged at a Manhattan nightclub after which taken to an residence in Chelsea the place one twin brother forcefully penetrated her whereas the opposite held her down. She stated they then switched locations and the assault continued, in keeping with the lawsuit.
As information of the lawsuits hit social media, remark threads on Reddit and Instagram grew to become full of messages from different girls who stated they, too, had been victims. Many inspired these with comparable tales to talk out.
“Plaintiff isn’t, and was not, the one sufferer to fall prey to the twins’ heinous acts,” reads the criticism that alleges the assault within the Hamptons. “For years, defendants Alon and Oren have engaged in an analogous sample of schemes, acts, and conduct with completely different girls.”
The second criticism incorporates comparable language.
The brothers have till Aug. 19 to answer the complaints.The lawyer for the ladies stated he’s not conscious of any present prison investigations. The Occasions reached out to regulation enforcement in Southampton and New York to inquire whether or not anybody had filed police reviews, however didn’t get a right away response.
There was shock amongst longtime professionals of the actual property business that the allegations had surfaced. A number of brokers, appraisers and public relations officers informed The New York Occasions that Official, which is simply two years outdated, would have a tough time recovering from the scandal in such a aggressive surroundings.
“It appears ironic that Official, identified for branding high-end luxurious actual property developments in New York, Miami and past, might discover it practically inconceivable to keep up management of their very own model,” stated Jonathan Miller, president and chief govt of the appraisal agency Miller Samuel. “If the agency is unable to outlive the deluge of stories protection of the supposed surprising habits of a companion, the void will solely be momentary. There’s an excessive amount of cash concerned for the business to not transfer on shortly with out them.”
In an interview on Sunday, Ms. Oge stated her firm would preserve transferring ahead.
“The conflation or false impression about Official in some way being inextricably linked to any particular person, whether or not it’s me or Oren or anybody else, is simply false,” she stated. “Official isn’t Oren Alexander.”
