An FBI agent took the witness stand at the federal detention hearing of Tal Alexander — one of three wealthy Miami Beach brothers charged with sex-trafficking — and testified that since June she has interviewed 40 women from New York and elsewhere who alleged they were raped by one of them.

Special Agent Justine Atwood testified on Friday that all of women’s allegations were “credible,” and that the victims did not know one another, came from different places and were sexually assaulted at various times over the past 20 years.

Atwood is the lead FBI investigative agent in the Alexander brothers’ sex-trafficking case, which was filed in New York City and led to their arrests in Miami Beach last Wednesday. Court documents portray Tal, 38, and his brother, Oren, 37, once-superstar New York real estate brokers, and Oren’s twin brother, Alon, 37, a security firm executive, as “serial” sex predators. The brothers, who grew up in the Miami area, are accused in an indictment of forcing dozens of women into having sex by plying them with drug-laced alcohol or pinning them down at locales in Manhattan, the Hamptons, Miami Beach and Mexico.

“As adults, the Alexander brothers’ serial sexual violence only escalated,” says one court document seeking the brothers’ detention before trial.

At Tal Alexander’s detention hearing in Miami, a federal magistrate judge denied his request for a bond — even after he and his family pledged $115 million secured by their real estate holdings — concluding that he was a risk of flight, possibly to Israel. Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid’s decision will likely have repercussions for Tal’s two younger brothers, Oren and Alon, who are also charged separately with three counts of sexual battery in Miami-Dade Circuit Court and are awaiting transfer to federal custody.

But on Monday, Tal Alexander’s legal team asked Reid to reopen the detention hearing and put his transfer to New York on hold so his attorneys can address victims’ statements that were cited by the FBI agent in her testimony.

During the two-hour detention hearing on Friday, one of Tal Alexander’s lawyers had challenged the FBI agent’s testimony. He countered that the indictment charges the three brothers with a sex-trafficking conspiracy from 2010 to 2021 and that it includes only two additional counts listing a pair of victims.

Defense attorney Milton L. Williams Jr. also suggested in his questioning that some of the women had “friendly contact” with the three brothers after they had been allegedly raped, suggesting their sexual relations were consensual.

Atwood testified that she has not reviewed any electronic evidence of text messages provided by some of the women to the FBI, so she couldn’t comment on the defense lawyer’s assertion of friendly contact with the three brothers after the alleged rapes.

In a letter to federal judges in Miami and New York seeking to detain the brothers, prosecutors said that they relied on “their power and wealth to identify victims, carry out their sadistic sex trafficking scheme, conceal their sexual violence and prevent victims and witnesses from coming forward” by threatening them with retaliation.

Tal and Oren filed a police report alleging harassment against a woman who said she was assaulted by them, and Tal said he would sue her for defamation, the letter says.

Another victim said Tal threatened her after she told people he drugged her. After civil lawsuits against the brothers were filed in March, Alon began compiling files on the victims “in an apparent attempt to discredit their accusers,” the letter says.

However, at Tal Alexander’s detention hearing in Miami, his defense attorney tried to discredit those allegations because they would have an impact on his client’s eligibility for a bond.

But Atwood, the FBI agent, told Williams matter-of-factly: “Your client has threatened some of our witnesses.”

Williams also tried to poke holes in the prosecutors’ claim that Tal and his brothers are a risk of flight because of their substantial wealth, easy access to private jets and family connections in Israel.

During questioning, Atwood said the FBI opened its sex-trafficking investigation in New York in June 2024 and soon after began sharing information with federal agents in South Florida as well as the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and Miami Beach Police Department.

Williams pointed out that the New York Times, Bloomberg and other major news outlets published stories about the federal probe of the Alexander brothers in July 2024 — yet Tal Alexander didn’t flee the country. He said Tal, who is married and has an infant child, owns residences in Miami Beach and Manhattan and that his parents own a home in Bal Harbour. He also said Tal and his brothers don’t own a private jet.

Nonetheless, Atwood flatly testified: “Your client travels to Israel,” stressing that he’s a “flight risk.”

During the detention hearing, federal prosecutor Lauren Astigarraga described Tal and his brothers as “serial rapists,” highlighting that since their arrests this past week “a new wave of potential victims have come forward.” She warned the judge that Tal has the financial means to fly to Israel.

Astigarraga told the judge that he has flown to Israel on “multiple occasions.”

She argued against releasing him from a federal lock-up to his home before trial, saying the judge “would be sending him back to what is the scene of the crime.”

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