Embattled brokerage Official is suffering more blows in the form of agent exits, this time in its home markets.
In the past week, at least five brokers have left the Side-backed firm that was co-founded by Oren and Tal Alexander. The departures come two months after The Real Deal first reported on allegations that Oren and his twin, Alon, had raped and sexually assaulted women, and after Tal was sued by a woman who claimed he and Alon raped her.
The Alexanders stepped down from their roles at Official after additional women came forward with similar allegations. The FBI is speaking with women who allege they were assaulted by the brothers or witnessed the attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Tal, Oren and Alon have all denied the allegations.
Among the latest exits is New York City agent Lauren Fitzpatrick Weitz, who is no longer associated with Official, licensing records show. In Florida, Jennifer Goldstein returned to Douglas Elliman, Farid Moussallem and Andrea Arcuri joined One Sotheby’s International Realty and Darius Brodesser joined Plus Real Estate, another Side-backed firm that’s led by a former Official broker.
Fitzpatrick and Brodesser did not respond to requests for comment. Goldstein, Moussallem and Arcuri declined to comment.
“We understand and respect their decisions,” Official co-founder Nicole Oge said in a statement on the agent exits. “We deeply value the relationships forged with each agent during their time with Official and wish them all the best.”
Some of Official’s agents, including those on the now-defunct Alexander Team, have been interviewing with other top firms in recent weeks, sources told TRD. Isaac Lustgarten, who was Oren’s business partner in Miami and was tasked with leading the Alexander Team in his wake, did not respond to a request for comment about a possible exit from Official.
Fitzpatrick came to the brokerage from Douglas Elliman, where she was also a member of the Alexander Team. Fitzpatrick also worked in South Florida alongside Oren, including in 2015, when she co-listed Miami attorney Jim Ferraro’s Fisher Island penthouse with Oren. (Ferraro was Oren and Alon’s attorney in the initial two civil lawsuits brought by women earlier this year; Criminal defense attorney Isabelle Kirshner replaced him in June.)
The departures have put Official on shakier ground. Official is led by its other co-founders, former Douglas Elliman executives Nicole Oge, Richard Jordan and Andrew Wachtfogel. They launched the firm in June 2022 alongside Oren and Tal, who left Elliman, where they built their careers.
In the last two months, the firm has lost its two largest new condo developments in South Florida. JDS replaced Official with One Sotheby’s as the head of sales at its Dolce & Gabbana-branded condo. Michael Shvo cut ties with the firm at his Raleigh project in Miami Beach and tapped former Official agent Anna Sherrill, who returned to her previous brokerage, One Sotheby’s, to lead sales.
Top agent Tyrone McKillen announced in July he was leaving the brokerage, two years after joining Official as a founding broker of its West Coast operations. His exit marked a blow to the firm’s West Coast business, sapping the company of his eight-person Plus Real Estate Group team.
At the time of his departure, McKillen had 16 listings on the MLS. Across the properties for sale and lease that are active, under contract and pending, McKillen counted $103.9 million in volume.
Kari Hamanaka contributed reporting.