In Alexander brothers trial, first witness testifies to being sexually assaulted

The primary witness on the federal intercourse trafficking trial of three brothers, two of them high-end actual property brokers, testified Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom that the joys of attending a celebration at actor Zac Efron’s residence became a nightmare when, hours later, one of many brothers repeatedly raped her at their house and taunted her about it.

The lady, who testified underneath the pseudonym Katie Moore, is one in every of a number of alleged victims anticipated to testify towards brothers Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander, who’re accused of teaming as much as drug and rape girls and ladies over a number of years.

Legal professionals for the brothers say the intercourse was consensual.

Prosecutors say the Alexander brothers used their ties to the rich and well-known to lure a number of victims.

The lady stated she was 20, an anthropology main in faculty, when she met two of the brothers on the celebration at Efron’s New York residence in 2012. She accompanied a pal who had just lately met Tal Alexander, and who invited her there to look at the final recreation of the 2012 NBA Finals. She stated she had little interplay with Efron, who will not be accused of any wrongdoing.

She testified that at Efron’s residence, she was supplied alcohol, and that she, Tal Alexander and her pal took the drug Molly. She stated it was her first time taking the drug and that she felt “jitteriness” after doing so. 

After the sport, the lady went to an afterparty at a Manhattan nightclub, the place she stated she was given a drink and remembered little afterward till she wakened bare on a mattress in one other residence with Alon Alexander, additionally bare, standing over her. She stated she repeatedly tried to rise up, however he saved pushing her again, prompting her to say: “I do not wish to have intercourse with you.”

“Haha, you already did,” she recalled him saying as he “laughed in my face.”

She stated he then overpowered and raped her. Whereas it was occurring, Tal Alexander walked into the room briefly, however did nothing to cease the assault, the lady informed the jury. He appeared “tremendous nonchalant,” she stated.

Assistant U.S. Legal professional Madison Smyser stated in her opening assertion to the jury that the Alexander brothers “masqueraded as celebration boys when actually they have been predators.”

She described the brothers as “companions in crime.” 

“Girl after girl, rape after rape,” Smyser stated.

Smyser stated they used “no matter means mandatory” together with luxurious lodging, flights, medication, alcohol and generally brute power to lure girls into conditions the place they could possibly be raped.

Legal professional Teny Geragos, representing Oren Alexander, urged the jury to reject prosecutors’ “monstrous story.”

She stated the brothers, who received out of faculty in 2008, have been profitable, formidable and generally conceited as they pursued girls in nightclubs, bars, eating places and on-line in what is called “hookup tradition,” hoping to have as a lot intercourse as attainable.

“That it’s not trafficking, that’s courting,” Geragos stated.

“It’s possible you’ll discover this conduct immoral, however it’s not prison,” Geragos stated. She stated among the brothers’ accusers have been hoping to complement themselves with lawsuits and spoke of themselves as victims solely after feeling remorse that they’d completed unlawful medication or had intercourse outdoors of relationships with their boyfriends.

Legal professional Deanna Paul, representing Tal Alexander, warned jurors that the subject material of the case was disturbing and can look like an R-rated film, particularly after prosecutors portrayed the brothers as “monsters.”

“Of their early 20s, Tal and his brothers have been celebration boys. They have been womanizers. They slept with many, many ladies,” she stated.

She urged jurors to reject the prison costs towards the brothers in the event that they conclude that the accusers’ testimony was unreliable.

Oren and Tal Alexander have been actual property sellers who specialised in high-end properties in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Their brother, Alon, graduated from New York Regulation College earlier than working the household’s personal safety agency. Tal is 39 years outdated whereas Alon and Oren, who’re twins, are 38.

An indictment alleges that the boys conspired to entice girls to affix them at trip locations similar to New York’s Hamptons by offering flights and luxurious resort rooms.

The brothers have been held with out bail since their December 2024 arrest in Miami, the place they lived.

Throughout her testimony Tuesday, the trial’s first witness stated she fled the room the place Alon Alexander had attacked her after he fell asleep. The lady remained composed by way of a lot of her testimony, although she received choked up a number of occasions. She cried as she recalled reaching out a number of years after the assault to pals she had informed in regards to the expertise so she could possibly be reminded that others liked her.