Lawsuits accuse top broker Oren Alexander, brother Alon of rape

Top broker Oren Alexander and his twin brother Alon were accused in previously unreported lawsuits of raping at least two women in New York, The Real Deal has learned. 

The complaints, filed in March, are centered on two alleged assaults that occurred in 2010 and 2012, filed by two women against Oren, founder of the Side-backed brokerage firm Official, and Alon, a private security firm executive. The suits also allege the brothers have engaged in a similar pattern of behavior against other women over the years.

Attorneys for the two women initiated the cases just as a New York State law eliminating the civil statute of limitations for sexual assault lawsuits was set to expire. 

Oren co-founded Official Partners with his brother, Tal, who is not mentioned in the complaints. The two brothers run the Alexander Team, which they say has closed more than $7 billion in real estate sales in New York, South Florida, Aspen and other luxury markets. They spent a decade at Douglas Elliman before leaving the brokerage firm in 2022. 

The lawsuits describe disturbing alleged acts of gender-based sexual violence that resulted in permanent harm to the victims, including psychological trauma. One complaint alleges that the brothers took turns assaulting the victim. 

Oren and Alon declined to comment. 

A lawyer for the Alexanders, prominent trial attorney Jim Ferraro of the Ferraro Law Firm, denied the allegations, and called the filing a “total shakedown.” 

The New York provision, known as the Adult Survivors Act, allowed survivors who were over the age of 18 at the time of the assault to sue their alleged perpetrators between Nov. 24, 2022 and Nov. 24, 2023, regardless of how long ago the crime occurred. It was under this statute that a jury last year found former President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing journalist E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s. 

Attorneys with New York-based law firm Torgan Cooper & Aaron, who are representing both women in separate lawsuits, declined to comment. 

Rebecca Mandel met Oren and Alon in 2009 at SL, a since-shuttered nightclub in the Meatpacking District, according to the complaint. Mandel, who was 18 years old at the time, continued to run into the twin brothers socially until the night of the alleged assault. 

Around September 2010, Mandel again met Oren and Alon at SL, where she claimed Alon “intentionally drugged Plaintiff’s drink with an unknown substance, resulting in significant impairment to her physical and mental being.” 

The complaint states that the two then persuaded Mandel to leave the nightclub with them to attend a party they were throwing at their apartment, though there were no guests or signs of an event once they arrived. She joined them in the apartment after the brothers assured her they would “just hang out for a little bit.”

Once inside their home, Mandel claims she was pinned by the brothers, who allegedly took turns holding her down and raping her, according to the complaint.

Oren and Alon’s behavior was “extreme and outrageous to such extent that the action was atrocious and intolerable in a civilized society,” the complaint states. 

As a result, the victim “incurred physical and psychological trauma and damage, has suffered great humiliation, loss of esteem, mental anguish and suffering.”

In a separate lawsuit filed the same day, Kate Whiteman alleges that she was sexually harassed, assaulted and raped in 2012 by Alon and Oren at a property known as “Sir Ivan’s Castle.” The Hamptons estate is owned by Ivan Wilzig, a recording artist who uses the medieval-style property to host parties.

Wilzig, who is not included in the assault claims, is named as a defendant in the case alongside Alon and Oren. The complaint alleges he is liable for negligence.

Wilzig could not be reached for comment. 

Whiteman filed a summons in 2022 against the same three defendants, but did not file a complaint and that case ultimately did not move forward. 

Whiteman, who met the twin brothers around 2008 in New York City, would decline Oren’s attempts to go out with him, and “on many occasions,” Alon would pretend to be Oren, the complaint alleges. 

In 2012, Oren texted Whiteman to see if she would be going to the Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend. She said yes, according to the complaint.

That month, as she was leaving the Hamptons nightclub Dune, Alon grabbed her and took her to a black SUV where Oren was waiting, the complaint alleges. 

Whiteman alleges that she was taken to Sir Ivan’s Castle, forced to change into a sarong and when she tried to run away, a security guard “dragged her back into the garage.” She was taken to what appeared to be a large bedroom and Alon and Oren allegedly assaulted, raped and battered her, according to the complaint. 

Ferraro said they have “very powerful” evidence, including documents, telephone records and emails that show it is “totally made up” and that Whiteman tried to wipe her text history clean. 

“I fully expect the case to end after her deposition,” he said. “That’s where the rubber meets the road.” 

In response to Mandel’s case, Ferraro called the filing “very bizarre.” Ferraro has known the Alexanders for years. He has hired Oren Alexander as his real estate agent dating back to Oren’s first deal in New York City.

Attorneys for Wilzig filed a request last month to move Whiteman’s case from New York County to Suffolk County, where he resides and where the alleged incidents took place. Whiteman has until July 15 to oppose the motion.

The deadline for the defendants to respond to both lawsuits is August 19. 

Wilzig’s attorney, Paul Schafhauser with Greenberg Traurig, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. 

Alon and Oren, who live in Miami Beach, come from a real estate family. Their father, Shlomy Alexander, is a spec home developer. Their brother Tal, a year older than the twins, is a top broker based in New York. In South Florida, Official handles sales and marketing for new developments that include the planned Rosewood-branded condo project at the Raleigh in Miami Beach, a Shvo development, and Michael Stern’s Dolce & Gabbana-branded condo project in Brickell.

Katherine Kallergis can be reached at kk@therealdeal.com. Sheridan Wall can be reached at sheridan.wall@therealdeal.com.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the Michael Stern development where Official is leading sales.

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