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REBNY censures Tal Alexander over ethics complaint

Fox Residential Group disputed then-Elliman broker’s tie to Beckford Tower sales

Douglas Elliman's Tal Alexander (Illustration by Kevin Cifuentes for The Real Deal with Getty Images, Douglas Elliman)
Douglas Elliman's Tal Alexander (Illustration by Kevin Cifuentes for The Real Deal with Getty Images, Douglas Elliman)

The Real Estate Board of New York censured top broker Tal Alexander over a complaint he interfered with another broker’s sales at an Upper East Side condominium.

REBNY’s Committee on Ethics and Professional Practices on October 25 found Alexander guilty of purposefully interfering with broker Barbara Fox’s broker-client relationship and interactions, six months after Fox Residential Group filed a complaint regarding a 2021 transaction at Icon Realty Management’s Beckford Tower.

The group said Alexander, while working as a Douglas Elliman broker, abused his status as sales “ambassador” at Beckford to gain an unfair advantage over Fox and interfered with Fox’s exclusive agency relationship with clients, according to a copy of the decision obtained by The Real Deal.

Alexander was acquitted of violating three other codes of conduct, according to the decision, which was distributed Wednesday.

The broker claimed he began acting as a dual agent prior to submitting a bid on behalf of the buyers in January 2021. However, he could not provide documentation to support his claims. Meanwhile, Fox was able to provide email and text exchanged to corroborate the complaint.

Alexander said in response to the decision he previously came to an “agreement with Fox Residential,” but the brokerage “decided to pursue this issue with REBNY.”

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“As we all know, this is a very competitive industry,” Alexander said. “I maintain a great relationship with the client and the sponsor, who is very pleased that we sold out the entire building.”

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REBNY declined The Real Deal’s request for comment.

Fox, who serves as president of the eponymous brokerage, said unethical broker behavior “needs to be stopped.”

While there are no penalties associated with a censure, a person familiar said a second violation could result in the termination of Alexander’s REBNY membership, meaning he would lose access to the organization’s Residential Listing Service.

Fox filed the complaint around one week before Tal and his brother Oren Alexander left Douglas Elliman to form their own brokerage, called Official, with Side, a white-label firm founded as a platform for brokers to launch their own brands.

The brokers previously headed the Alexander Team, one of Elliman’s top-performing teams. The team said it closed more than $1.8 billion in sales last year, or 3.5 percent of Elliman’s $51.2 billion in annual revenue.

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Douglas EllimanREBNYResidential BrokerageSide