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Defense offers 'any amount,' private security to secure release of Alexander brothers

Ana Claudia Chacin, Miami Herald on

Published in News & Features

MIAMI — A defense lawyer for Alon Alexander offered a long list of house-arrest proposals and “any amount” of money on Monday in hopes of persuading a Miami federal judge to free him before a looming trial on a string of sex trafficking and rape charges.

The judge said he would make a decision Friday when Oren Alexander, Alon’s twin brother, is expected to have his own bond hearing. The 37-year-old Miami Beach twins and their older brother Tal Alexander all face similar charges based on accusations from women in both Miami Beach and New York going back years.

Oren and Tal are high-profile real estate brokers with a long list of celebrity clients and multimillion-dollar deals in both states. Alon works for the family’s Miami-based security firm.

Federal prosecutors want the three to remain in federal custody until they are arraigned in New York. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lissette Reid already denied Tal, 38, bond on Dec. 20. Prosecutors argue that the wealthy brothers are a flight risk and a danger to the community.

But defense attorney Howard Srebnick told U.S. Magistrate Judge Eduardo Sanchez that the three brothers and their parents, Shlomy and Orly Alexander, were willing to issue a surety bond of any amount the judge saw fit, house all three brothers in the same home with electronic monitoring and also offered private security company to ensure the brothers will appear before a judge when the time comes.

“What we’ve offered today is, I think, more than anyone in the District has ever offered,” Srebnick said.

Srebnick assured the judge that the security company they were proposing, V2 Global, had no connection to Kent Security, the firm owned and operated by the Alexander family. Donald DeLucca, who previously served as chief of police for Miami Beach, Golden Glades and Doral and is a shareholder at V2 Global, said the firm was equipped to do this work either in Miami or New York.

“I’d authorize a shoot-to-kill if the brothers violate,” said Srebnick. But Sanchez clarified that since the security would not be law enforcement, they would not be able to do that.

Srebnick even said that the defendants could also be housed in a different location, in a high-rise apartment with no balcony to be rented by the family. Calling the move a “hypothetical,” Sanchez said he would wait and make a decision on whether to approve the release on bond on Friday.

U.S Assistant Attorney Elizabeth Espinosa said no conditions were “truly sufficient” to ensure the brothers were not a flight risk or a danger to the community. She noted that the brothers, accused of gang raping women since high school had “acted with impunity their whole lives.”

She said the brothers’ ties to Israel (both parents and Alon’s wife Shani were born in Israel) also proved he was a flight risk. Srebnick offered to surrender Alon’s parents’, wife’s and kids’ passports to prove that they were not a flight risk.

The defense prepared a document with all of the family’s assets for review by the judge and federal prosecutor, a record entered under seal from public scrutiny. The full extent of the family’s wealth isn’t known but a Miami Herald analysis of public records identified residential and commercial properties with an assessed market value of more than $74 million owned by members of the family or companies tied to them, though they still have outstanding mortgages on some of them.

 

The Alexanders had previously pledged $115 million in assets — using as collateral the parents’ Bal Harbour home, the Kent security office building in North Miami and Oren, Tal and Alon’s homes in Miami Beach — in an unsuccessful bid to have Tal Alexander released from federal custody as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges.

Sanchez called the family’s measures “extraordinary,” but said offering up all of their money and assets did not convince him that they weren’t “willing to do whatever is necessary to not face those sentences.”

As part of any bond deal, Srebnick said the brothers could be housed at any of the brother’s or parents waterfront properties, their uncle Gil Neuman’s home in Broward County, or any other home or condominium the judge saw fit.

The FBI has identified and interviewed “approximately 42” victims and dozens of others had come forward since the brothers’ arrest, Espinosa told the judge. “That case is only getting stronger and stronger as time goes on.”

Support from family, friends

The federal courtroom was completely filled before the hearing started Monday, with more than 30 family and friends of the defendants present in the courtroom. The room had one side for defense attorneys and family of the defendants and prosecutors and media, but once the defense side filled up other family and friends were seated on the media side.

Shani Alexander, Alon’s wife, and Danielle Epstein, Alon’s college ex-girlfriend and a close family friend, were both called as character witnesses by the defense.

Shani, 28, was born and raised in Israel. She met Alon in 2017 and they were married in 2020. Under questioning, she said she was not aware of any sexual assault by Alon.

As both Alon and Oren were being escorted by federal detention agents into the courtroom before the hearing, Shani smiled and gave Oren a wink, but quickly went to a corner where she let out a small cry, after seeing him shackled.

Epstein, who dated Alon from 2008 until 2011 and remains a close family friend, called him an “a very honest man” and “hardworking.”


©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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