This is an edition of our Court Report newsletter. To get this in your inbox even earlier, subscribe here.
Dear reader,
The third week of the Alexander brothers’ trial closed with separate accounts of the same Memorial Day weekend in 2009, where two women testified on separate days about witnessing the same assault.
On Thursday, a woman testifying under the pseudonym Isa Brooks accused Tal Alexander, Alon Alexander and two other men of raping her during a pool party at the home when she was 16 years old. Her story adds to an account shared earlier this week by Avishan Bodjnoud, who described seeing and hearing Tal and Alon attack someone else at the same property that weekend.
Both women, who appear not to know each other, described taking a bus from Manhattan to a club in the Hamptons, which Bodjnoud identified as the now-shuttered Pink Elephant in Southampton. Bodjnoud said she was invited to the Hamptons by David Rabello, a friend of the Alexanders who Brooks identified as one of the men who allegedly raped her that weekend. Rabello, who went to high school in Miami, is a finance executive based in Brazil, according to his LinkedIn.
Brooks recalled feeling “woozy” and “limp” after accepting a few drinks from Rabello in the hot tub. She said Tal followed her inside to a bedroom, where he kissed her and said his brother was going to join. After that, she described her memory coming to her in “flashes.”
“I remember them taking turns holding me down and raping me, and increasing violence, both in what they were saying and how they were raping me, just in a violent way,” she said. “Having had no context at 16 and so just wondering why it felt like they hated me.”
Brooks said she remembers telling them to stop, but not being able to lift her head or get away. She said eventually she managed to kick the unknown man. Later, Brooks said that Tal told her not to be mad at him.
During her testimony about what happened after the assault, Brooks recalled seeing another woman with a bunch of guys on top of her and Alon’s twin, Oren, slamming a bedroom door in another woman’s face.
“She was extremely distraught, she was banging on the door and she said ‘I work for the U.N. I know what you’re doing to girls in there,’” Brooks recalled. Bodjnoud said she had interned for the United Nations and considered contacting U.N. security after witnessing the alleged rape.
Though similar, Brooks’ and Bodjnoud’s accounts of the weekend differed on some details. Bodjnoud said the alleged rape she witnessed happened in a hot tub, and placed it at a different time that evening than Brooks did.
Attorneys for the Alexander brothers questioned Brooks on Friday, pressing her on who invited her to the home and who was paying for the trip. Determining the extent of the roles the brothers played in orchestrating the trips where women have alleged sexual assault have been at the center of cross-examination by defense, while prosecutors seek to establish that the brothers knowingly perpetrated a sex trafficking scheme.
During the cross-examination, Brooks explained that she was at the house on an invitation from Matt Lipman, a party promoter who the Alexanders appeared to be clients of. Lipman, who left the home the morning after she was allegedly raped, had invited Brooks to clubs and private events during her senior year at a boarding school in Westchester.
“It seemed like he was bringing people to tables for his clients, he would bring people to clients, this didn’t happen exclusively at clubs,” she told Deanna Paul, one of Tal’s attorneys.
Paul also pressed her on why she did not report her alleged rape to the police or her parents at the time, and what she told her friends.
“You testified that you felt ‘mauled,’ you felt attacked,” said Paul. “You didn’t call your parents at that point to tell them what had happened?”
Brooks said that in 2020, she called the East Hampton police department and hung up on the officer after the officer sounded frustrated with the lack of details she remembered. She also left a voicemail with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and did not return a callback. She eventually reported the attack to the FBI in 2024 after reading about other allegations against the brothers.
“I’ve been haunted by this for 17 years,” Brooks said. “I am horrified that there have been others.” She added that she came forward with the hope that the brothers would face accountability. “I fear if that doesn’t happen, it will continue.”
Brooks’ cross-examination marked the end of the third week of the trial, which is expected to resume on Tuesday, Feb. 24, following a weeklong break. The brothers have denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty.
Other takeaways from this week
- In addition to Brooks, the jury heard from Maylen Gehret, who says she was 17 years old when Alon allegedly drugged and raped her in Aspen, Colorado. Gehret, who is also suing Alon and Oren, captured the jury’s attention during her emotionally charged testimony. Gehret’s friend, Kayley Brown, also testified about Alon sexually assaulting her the same night in Aspen.
- Lindsey Acree, a Brooklyn art gallerist, testified about allegedly being drugged and raped by Tal and another man during Memorial Day weekend in 2011, when she was 25 years old. Acree is also suing Tal, his brother Oren and a John Doe.
- Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Lisa Rocchio testified as an expert witness about the different ways survivors respond to sexual assault and how trauma can affect memory creation and recall.
Read more
Residential
National
“I could hear the girl screaming”: Woman claims she witnessed Alexanders raping woman
Residential
National
Billionaire's daughter suing Alexanders for alleged rape in Aspen tells jury she doesn't need the money, but doesn’t want them to have it