Tal and Oren Alexander spent more than a decade living the lifestyles of their clients.
The former top real estate brokers traveled on private jets from Miami to New York to the Bahamas. They attended the Super Bowl and boxing matches with their developer friends, some of whom invited them to their glamorous weddings in Palm Beach.
At home, they lived in the kind of waterfront mansions and ultra-luxury condos they built their business selling, with the toys to match: Tal at 432 Park Avenue, a supertall on Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row, and Oren in a custom-built estate in Miami Beach.
Together with their brother Alon, who was part of the family’s private security firm, the A-list siblings showcased their success on Instagram. They posted photos riding camels in the desert in Qatar, smoking cigars at a townhouse on the Upper East Side, and shooting at an exclusive sporting club with their former boss, Howard Lorber, the ex-CEO and chairman of Douglas Elliman.
But their image as power brokers with money and access is backfiring. Following their arrest on sex trafficking charges in December, prosecutors have invoked their high-flying, jet-setting lifestyle as their primary argument for keeping them in custody ahead of their trial.
“Counsel has made clear that money is no object,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Espinosa said at a hearing in late December. “If money is truly no object for a bond, money is no object for freedom.”
If convicted of federal charges, they face up to life in prison.
Civil lawsuits
The Alexanders’ legal woes began in March, when two women filed lawsuits against Oren and Alon, alleging the twin brothers raped them in separate attacks more than a decade ago. The Real Deal first reported the lawsuits in June, and within weeks Tal was the subject of a similar lawsuit alleging a 2012 attack involving all three brothers.
In the following days, nearly 30 women approached the plaintiff’s attorneys in the initial lawsuit with similar allegations.
In total, seven lawsuits alleging sexual assault have been filed against one or more of the Alexanders, which could put them on the hook for more than $100 million in damages if they’re found liable, according to attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel, who represented survivors in lawsuits against former U.S. Olympic gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, among others.
“It’s not a cookie-cutter evaluation,” Tuegel said of estimating potential verdicts. Cases involving defendants who “refuse to accept responsibility and have extreme access” tend to result in higher awards.
“Juries get mad,” Tuegel said.
Whether the Alexanders have the means to pay a nine-figure judgment is another question.
“Do the sons have that actual worth themselves?” Tuegel said. “They’re facing a lot, and I don’t know that they’re going to get out from under this.”
The Alexanders, through their attorneys, have previously denied allegations that they drugged and sexually assaulted women and claimed the lawsuits were money-driven.
“Whatever is necessary”
Attorneys for the brothers proposed bail packages of “any amount,” suggesting up to $1 billion, to secure their pre-trial release. But the Alexander family’s assets are not limitless. Some of their properties, which include their waterfront homes and commercial real estate, are encumbered by mortgages. The Miami Herald previously valued their assets at $74 million, based on the combined market value given by the local property appraiser. But their property portfolio is likely worth much more.
The Alexander family also has a 30-plus-acre ranch outside of Aspen owned by a company that lists Oren’s Miami Beach home as its mailing address. Orly and Shlomy, the brothers’ parents, also own about $10 million worth of property outside the U.S., which includes a home in Israel and a property in the Bahamas.
Howard Srebnick, one of the brothers’ attorneys, offered to have the Alexanders, who own a seaplane, put on a no-fly list.
“We would do whatever is necessary,” Srebnick said in a late December hearing for Alon.
The family also pitched house arrest with an ankle monitor and supervision by a third-party private security firm. They suggested using a two-bedroom apartment on the eighth floor of a building in Miami-Dade that was “not luxury” and without access to the ocean.
But Judge Eduardo Sanchez sided with prosecutors, noting that “it’s clearly a conflict when the person being jailed is paying for the jail.”
Oren is the only one who has yet to have his detention hearing, which is set for Wednesday, Jan. 15, alongside Tal and Alon’s bail appeals — their first appearance in New York.
On top of the federal charges — and the army of expensive attorneys tapped to defend against them — the brothers’ legal bills keep growing.
They’re facing multiple civil lawsuits from alleged survivors seeking damages, while Oren and Tal are also battling their former business partner, the white label firm Side, in court over an alleged unpaid loan totaling more than $4 million. And in Miami, lawsuits seeking payment for construction, commission and landscaping are piling up against Oren and the family’s Alexander Group.
Valuing the Alexanders’ properties
Shlomy and Orly’s Bal Harbour home | Estimated value: between $15 million and $40 million
The brothers’ parents, Shlomy and Orly Alexander, pledged their home on Bal Bay Drive in Bal Harbour as collateral that secures Oren and Alon’s appearances in state court on charges of sexual battery. Still, the twin brothers weren’t let out on bond due to the federal charges. Pre-trial release orders show the home is valued at $40 million and has a $3 million mortgage remaining.
That valuation may be overblown. The county’s market value of the two-story, five-bedroom home is just shy of $15 million. Estimates on Redfin and Zillow are closer to $20 million, and a comparable sale that closed in December would value the house closer to $16 million.
Alon and Shani Alexander’s Miami Beach home | Estimated value: likely north of $6 million
Alon and his wife, model Shani Zigron Alexander, live in a waterfront house north of the Miami Beach Golf Club that was built in 1930 and later renovated. The couple paid $2.9 million for the 2,680-square-foot home in 2020. The property appraiser’s market value is $5.8 million, and Redfin and Zillow estimate its worth to be worth between $5.4 and $6.7 million, but could likely sell for more.
Oren Alexander’s Miami Beach home | Estimated value: likely north of $40 million
Oren’s home on Lake Avenue on the Sunset Islands in Miami Beach could trade for well over $40 million, based on comparable sales. The nearly 10,000-square-foot waterfront mansion was recently completed.
Tal Alexander’s home lot | Estimated value: between $6.6 million and $12.1 million
Tal paid $3.1 million for the waterfront home at 2687 Flamingo Drive in 2020, had the home demolished and plans to develop a house on the half-acre property. Realtor.com, Zillow and Redfin estimate the lot is worth between $6.6 million and $12.1 million, but it could sell for more as it would come with approved plans. The property appraiser lists a market value of $7.4 million.
Alexander family’s properties | Combined estimated value: more than $28 million
One or more members of the Alexander family also own other properties in Miami-Dade County, some tied to their companies.
In 2021, a company controlled by Oren paid $9.8 million for the 4,300-square-foot waterfront home at 1611 West 24th Street on the Sunset Islands, one island away from his house. Maxim Credit Group provided the company with an $8.5 million mortgage in March 2023. Alon, Tal, Shlomy and the brothers’ uncle, Gil Neuman, have also been named as managers of the LLC. The property appraiser lists a market value of $11.6 million; while a Zillow estimate pegs the value at nearly $15 million and a Redfin estimate at about $14 million.
A company managed by Alon with the Alexander Group’s North Miami Beach address paid about $1.1 million for the non-waterfront 3,500-square-foot house at 969 West 34th Street in 2021. The county’s market valuation is close to $2 million. Zillow’s estimate is $2.6 million, and Realtor.com’s is about $3.1 million. The house has a nearly $1.6 million mortgage that was reassigned to a different lender in early 2022. A notice of commencement for interior and exterior work was submitted in 2023 but it’s unclear whether that was completed.
A Delaware company that lists Orly and Shlomy’s Bal Harbour home paid a combined $575,000 for two boat slips at the Carriage House condominium complex at 5401 Collins Avenue. Last summer, in July, Oren created an LLC named after a unit on the third floor of the under-construction Perigon Residences next door, at 5333 Collins Avenue. He has likely made a cash deposit for a unit at the Perigon.
The Alexander family and their assets
Their family also holds a valuable commercial real estate portfolio.
Kent Security and the Alexander Group’s office at 14600 Biscayne Boulevard and the building next door at 14652 Biscayne are owned by companies tied to the family. The two buildings total about 37,000 square feet on a combined 1.4 acres. J.P. Morgan provided a nearly $914,000 mortgage for the building at 14652 Biscayne, home to a hammam spa, in 2021. Wells Fargo provided a $3.3 million mortgage for the adjacent property in 2018. The value of these two buildings depends on whether they would be sold together, and what the buyer(s) would plan to do with them. If sold together as a development opportunity, they may be worth more than if they were sold separately.
In Miami, near Midtown, Oren owns the single-story office/retail building at 25 Northwest 34th Street, where design studio YoDezeen signed a lease. An LLC managed by Oren paid $3.5 million for the building in 2021. No mortgage was recorded. The county’s property appraiser lists a market value of $2.6 million, less than what Oren paid for the property.
Other legal troubles
As news of the allegations spread, Tal and Oren stepped back from Official Partners, the brokerage they co-founded in 2022. After a dispute with the other founders — during which Tal and Oren threatened legal action if they didn’t allow them to come back if cleared of the accusations — the brothers took full control of their firm and announced an impending rebrand.
Side, the San Francisco-based company backing their firm, soon called to collect. Side, led by CEO Guy Gal, sued Oren, Tal and Official in October for allegedly failing to repay a roughly $5 million loan from Side used to launch their brokerage in 2022 and on which Tal and Oren were guarantors.
Attorneys for Side expressed concern that the brothers would hide their assets, used to collateralize the loan, as a result of the mounting legal action against them. The Alexanders’ attorney denied that the two were attempting to conceal or offload their assets. But a judge in California granted Side a temporary restraining order to block the brothers from interfering with the loan collateral. The firm also appealed to a judge in Florida to extend the injunction to the state, where Oren and Tal were arrested and where they own waterfront properties.
Attorneys for Tal and Oren wrote in a joint statement filed on Jan. 7 that since the Alexanders’ arrest, they hadn’t been able to contact them about the lawsuit and that they weren’t paying their legal bills. Their attorneys stated that under these circumstances, they may “be forced to withdraw from this case.”
Side also filed notices with a district court in Florida instructing Tal and Oren not to sell their residential properties in Miami Beach, including Oren’s home on Lake Avenue.
Other legal action is also stacking up against Oren connected to his home in Miami Beach. Unifor, a subsidiary of the Italian furniture designer Molteni, is suing Oren over unpaid bills for work performed at his home, totaling close to $170,000. In the complaint, Unifor claims Oren paid the first of three installments in October, but has since stopped making payments.
Attorneys for Oren have not yet responded to the lawsuit.
A New York-based broker also filed a lawsuit against Oren and his former brokerage, Douglas Elliman, for failing to pay him roughly $250,000 in commission and referral fees he alleges he’s owed in connection to the purchase of Oren’s waterfront home lot for $10 million in 2020.
According to the complaint, developers hired Oren as the listing broker for the property, but later approached him about purchasing the home himself. He allegedly agreed to pay Sam Spearin, one of the co-developers and plaintiff, a 3 percent commission and 25 percent referral fee for facilitating the transaction but later refused to hand over the money. Neither Oren nor Elliman have responded to the lawsuit, which was filed in Florida in December.
In July, a landscaping service in Florida sued the family’s Alexander Group over alleged unpaid invoices for work performed at three properties, including Oren’s home, Tal’s lot and another Miami Beach property owned by developer Michael Stern. A judge ordered the company to pay roughly $18,000 to the landscaper for missed payments and attorney’s fees.