MIAMI — A Miami federal judge on Friday denied bond for one of the Alexander twin brothers on charges of forcing dozens of women to have sex with them, saying he was concerned he might flee the country to avoid a potential life sentence if convicted.

Alon and Oren Alexander both appeared in Miami federal court for what were expected to be back-to-back detention hearings, with the judge deciding whether their proposal of putting up “any amount” of money in excess of $100 million to secure bonds for their release will ensure their appearance at trial.

Magistrate Judge Eduardo Sanchez rejected the defense bid to free Alon. He said it was not because he necessarily posed a danger to the community but because of the risk he might try to leave the country for Israel, where the family has many connections.

“These are extremely serious charges that carry extremely serious penalties,” Sanchez said, citing the FBI’s investigation indicating that 42 women have accused the twins and a third brother of rape and that each defendant potentially faces up to life in prison.

But Sanchez, who cited the strength of the government’s evidence, said his denial of bond for Alon “has been a tough decision — it is close.”

Twin brother Oren’s detention hearing was then postponed until Tuesday because his defense attorney, Richard Klugh, recently underwent eye surgery and needed more time to prepare for it. The outcome of that hearing, if it goes forward, is likely to be a sequel to Alon’s.

Another magistrate judge, Lisette Reid, denied a $115 million bond request in December by the third brother, Tal Alexander, 38, who is charged with the twins in the conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and related rape charges between 2010 and 2021 in New York, Miami Beach and other places.

All three Alexander brothers were arrested last month on an indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan federal court. The twin brothers were also charged with sexual battery by the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office. They were granted bonds by a state circuit judge and then transferred to federal custody.

Lawyers for the 37-year-old twins, who along with the third brother have made a fortune in the real estate business, proposed that they stay with their parents in Bal Harbour or in high-rise apartments in the Miami area with private security around the clock.

Attorney Howard Srebnick, who represents Alon, argued that his parents, Orly and Shlomo Alexander, were willing to take the risk of pledging all their assets to secure a bond for him because they know he’s not going to flee and leave them destitute.

“They know Alon is not going anywhere,” Srebnick said, adding that he’s “presumed innocent” and should not have to be held in a “horrific” federal detention center in New York City when his family has provided a reasonable alternative of home confinement.

After Alon’s detention hearing, Srebnick said he planned to appeal Sanchez’s ruling, possibly to the federal district court judge in Manhattan who is overseeing the Alexander brothers’ criminal case.

Outside the federal courthouse, Srebnick told reporters that he believed “every one” of the women accusing the Alexander brothers of rape were lying, noting that “none of them” had gone to the FBI or police before the investigation was opened last year. However, records show that the North Miami Beach police did investigate a rape complaint lodged by a teenage girl against the brothers in 2003 when they were attending Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School. No charges were filed.

The lawyer also said they were trying to “profiteer from any sexual activity they had many years ago” with the brothers by filing lawsuits.

Federal prosecutors said they strongly opposed any home confinement for Alon, arguing that he and his twin brother are a danger to the community and a risk of flight, possibly to Israel, where their parents are citizens and own a residence in Tel Aviv.

“The possibility of life in prison is devastating,” prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa said in court. “That gives (Alon) every incentive in the world to flee.”

Sanchez, a former federal prosecutor like Reid, had previously expressed skepticism about the twins’ bond proposal, calling it “extraordinary” at Alon’s detention hearing on Monday, which was continued to Friday. Sanchez also said offering up all of the family’s money and assets did not convince him that they weren’t “willing to do whatever is necessary to not face those sentences.”

In court papers filed this week, Alon’s defense attorney, Srebnick, argued that “it bears repeating that the singular objective of the court is to determine whether it can fashion conditions to assure the safety of the community and appearance in court — not to punish the defendant before trial.”

“The fact that family members have the financial ability to provide the court with additional assurances of compliance through a private security guard should not be demonized,” Srebnick wrote.

But federal prosecutors argued the opposite.

“Alon Alexander, Oren Alexander and their brother and co-defendant, Tal Alexander, have joined a group of wealthy individuals charged with sex trafficking and similar offenses who have attempted to buy their way out of federal detention by funding their own private jails,” prosecutor Lauren Astigarraga wrote in a court filing, citing the high-profile sex trafficking prosecutions of New York financier Jeffrey Expstein, who killed himself in federal custody while awaiting trial, and rap mogul P. Diddy (Sean Combs), who is facing trial.

“Courts presented with these proposals have rejected them for what they are: efforts to use money and privilege to receive special treatment in the justice system,” Atigarraga wrote.

Oren and Tal are prominent luxury real estate brokers with a long list of celebrity clients and multimillion-dollar deals in Manhattan and Miami Beach. Alon, who has a law degree, has worked for the family’s Miami-based security firm, Kent.

At Monday’s detention hearing for Alon, Srebnick told Sanchez that the three brothers and their parents, Shlomi 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 a 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. Another high-profile member of V2 Global is George Piro, the former special agent in charge of FBI’s field office in Miami.

Srebnick even said that the defendants could also be housed in a different location, in high-rise apartments with no balcony to be rented by the family.

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.

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.

Since the sex trafficking investigation was launched in June, FBI said it has identified and interviewed “approximately 42” victims. Dozens of others have come forward since the brothers’ arrest last month, Espinosa told the judge.

“That case is only getting stronger and stronger as time goes on,” she said.

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