Side Seeks Restraining Order Against Oren, Tal Alexander

Oren and Tal Alexander’s legal woes are spreading.

Side, the white-label brokerage firm that backs their company, is seeking a restraining order against the former top brokers in an attempt to bar them from destroying or concealing the collateral underpinning a loan from Side.

Side sued the Alexanders and their company in October, claiming Tal and Oren violated their contract by failing to repay a loan they received from the company when they launched Official Partners two years ago.

The firm has yet to serve the defendants despite repeated attempts to reach them. Side even hired a private investigator to find the two brothers, according to the filing.

The firm, headed by CEO Guy Gal, filed the request on Tuesday, urging the judge to grant a temporary restraining order preventing the Alexanders from “selling, transferring, dissipating, or otherwise disposing” of the assets included in the collateral. The filing states that in previous discussions, the Alexanders had refused to identify the collateral, but a source told The Real Deal the collateral is an unspecified amount of money.

At a hearing on Friday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick ordered that the Alexanders and Official Partners were barred from transferring, selling or moving the collateral. The Alexanders appear to have hired a new attorney, Todd Friedman, who accepted service of the lawsuit. The judge denied Side’s requests for expedited discovery.

HousingWire first reported news of the filing by Side, which provides the back-end support and managing brokers for the company.

“Side believes it is likely that the Defendants have or are in the process of hiding and dissipating assets to put them beyond the reach of Side and this Court,” the application states. Side is also requesting the judge fast track a portion of the discovery process, so it can determine the state of the collateral.

In the lawsuit Side filed in October, the company said it provided Official Partners with a loan when they signed their agreement in August 2022. Oren and Tal left Douglas Elliman that summer to launch Official with Nicole Oge, Andrew Wachtfogel and Richard Jordan. (The former partners, who had all previously worked at Elliman, announced in August they were exiting Official).

The loan amount was redacted from the complaint, but Side is seeking repayment in the millions, a source familiar with the suit told TRD in October. Official was served Oct. 27.

“The Alexanders’ primary residences have been reported as under construction and vacant, and their whereabouts remain unknown,” the filing states. It also alleges that the office where the brothers claimed to have kept records on the collateral has been vacated. Oren owns a home in Miami Beach, and Tal is building a house nearby.

The complaint centers on two agreements Oren and Tal and their Official Partners had with Side. Side and Official amended the note, on which the Alexanders were guarantors, in April of this year.

An attorney for the Alexanders, James Cinque, denied last month that the brothers missed any payments. In a statement provided to TRD at the time, Cinque called the lawsuit “an incredibly greedy attempt by Side to take over the business of Official Partners.”

The Alexanders took full control of Official Partners in August amid an exodus of agents from the company, and just two agents remain in New York, state records show.

In the request restraining order, Side’s attorney wrote that John Crabtree, a lawyer in South Florida, was in the process of being retained by Oren and Tal as of Nov. 4. Crabtree told TRD he is not representing the brothers.

Cinque in a statement criticized Side’s claims, saying the deal originated when the brokers joined “Side as its flagship partner in good faith” before the terms of the arrangement changed.

“Side, Inc. induced the founders of Official Partners to leave their positions and “partner up” with them,” Cinque said. “But then Side pulled the plug, withheld earned commissions, and is now aggressively trying to turn its investment into callable debt. Not exactly the partnership we signed up for.”

In June, TRD first reported on two lawsuits accusing Oren and his twin brother, Alon Alexander, of raping at least two women in New York more than a decade ago. Days later, another woman sued Tal and Alon, alleging they raped her in a group attack orchestrated and witnessed by Oren, according to the complaint.

More women came forward with allegations of being raped or drugged by one or more of the brothers in the weeks and months that followed news of the initial suits, according to accounts reported by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Insider.

The brothers have denied the allegations.

The Alexanders are facing at least four lawsuits alleging rape and sexual assault, and the FBI is still interviewing women who claim they were attacked by one or more of the brothers, sources told TRD.

Oren and Tal both stepped back from Official and disassociated their licenses. Their former partners Oge, Wachtfogel and Jordan took over the company as they attempted to negotiate an exit. But those negotiations soured. Oren and Tal allegedly threatened legal action against Oge, Wachtfogel and Jordan if they voted to oust them from the firm, sources previously told TRD.

This article has been updated with a statement from an attorney on behalf of Tal and Oren Alexander and the results of a Nov. 8 hearing.