Prosecutors Plan to Drop Some Charges Against Alexander Brothers

Prosecutors cited a pattern of intimidation against witnesses as a reason for dropping two counts from the sex-trafficking case. A judge must approve the dismissal.

Federal prosecutors said on Friday they plan to drop two charges against the Alexander brothers, citing a pattern of intimidation against witnesses who had been expected to testify at the men’s sex-trafficking trial.

“We don’t plan to proceed to the jury with counts six and seven,” Madison Smyser, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Judge Valerie E. Caproni, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, on Friday. The jury was not present.

It was unclear how the move might affect the case against the brothers, Oren, Alon and Tal Alexander. Oren, 38, and Tal, 39, were among the top-earning real estate brokers in the United States, regularly closing million-dollar deals. Alon, 38 and Oren’s twin, did not work in real estate, but was a regular on the Manhattan and Miami party circuits alongside the other two.

The brothers’ lawyers include some who defended the music mogul Sean Combs in his federal sex-trafficking case, and their public-relations team includes people who have worked for the disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the actors Johnny Depp and Justin Baldoni.

The lawyers have argued that the women whose accusations are the basis for the case had consensual sex with the Alexanders. The public relations team has sought to discredit the accusers, shame them about sexual histories and claim they are part of a conspiracy to damage the brothers.

The two counts that prosecutors said they plan to dismiss concern a sex-trafficking charge against the brothers stemming from an incident in June 2009. Two witnesses linked to the charges, referred to in court documents as Victim-4 and Victim-5, were expected to testify at the brothers’ trial, but have not. Prosecutors expect to rest their case on Monday.

If the judge approves the dismissal, the brothers would still face 10 criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. The men have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they could face life in prison.

Prosecutors argue that the brothers violently raped and sexually assaulted dozens of women over more than 20 years. In some cases, the indictment charging them says, they drugged victims before attacking them.

The case was ignited when two women accused the brothers of sexual assault in 2024. A flurry of other rape accusations followed, and the brothers were arrested in that December. They are also defendants in about two dozen lawsuits.

Court filings and public comments by the judge and prosecutors suggest a pattern of intimidation against at least one of the women connected to the two counts prosecutors asked to dismiss on Friday.

Weeks before the trial began, a private investigator working for the defense pretended to be an insurance agent and approached neighbors near Victim-4’s home and asked questions about her minor children, prosecutors wrote in a January court filing.

Such conduct “crossed ethical lines,” prosecutors wrote in the memo. “These boundary-crossing investigative efforts that implicate victim family members and safety may very well result in the unavailability of government’s witnesses — a fact that defense counsel is undoubtedly aware.”

But neither Victim-4 nor Victim-5 have testified, and prosecutors made it clear on Friday that the two charges would be dismissed.

In a letter unsealed on Friday, prosecutors wrote that after Victim-4 learned the investigator was impersonating an insurance agent and inquiring about her children, she no longer wanted to be a part of the case. The woman has not responded to her lawyer’s attempts to reach her since, according to the letter.

“The government’s papers speak for themselves,” said Evan Torgan, a lawyer for Victim-4, when asked if his client had been too scared to testify. “Her main priority at this point is her children,” he said. He declined further comment.

Defense lawyers, however, pointed to the brothers’ alibis for the June 2009 night cited in the two counts. In a separate letter filed on Friday, the lawyers said they had notified the government last month that they had evidence that they believed would prove that all three brothers were in New York City during that period, not the Hamptons, as alleged.

Jason Goldman, a lawyer for Oren and Alon, welcomed the move to drop the charges and said it often happened when prosecutors lack the evidence to support charges or because of some other legal issue. He called any other explanation “sensational.”

“That is precisely how the justice system is designed to function,” Mr. Goldman said. “To suggest or imply anything beyond that is just noise to drum up sensational, albeit unfounded speculation.”

Judge Caproni addressed the “investigator issue” early in the trial, chastising the defense lawyers. “Let me put it this way,” she said. “This better not repeat.” On Friday, Ms. Smyser told the judge that prosecutors were “in this position” because of “what happened with regard to the defense investigator.”

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