Scribbled in black eyeliner on the white walls and doors inside a Hamptons mansion read the shocking message, left behind by a woman after she allegedly witnessed two of the Alexander brothers rape a victim in the hot tub.
‘Rapists!’
Images of the writing and the woman’s graphic testimony about what allegedly took place over Memorial Day weekend 2009 took center stage during the Alexander brothers’ sex trafficking trial in New York federal court on Wednesday.
Twins Alon and Oren, 38, and their older brother Tal, 39, long enjoyed a life of luxury, jet-setting to A-list locations and being permanent fixtures of the Miami and Hamptons party scenes.
Tal and Oren were high-powered real estate brokers, finding homes for stars including Ivanka Trump and Kim Kardashian, while Alon worked at the family’s private security company.
But, beneath the surface of their flashy lifestyles, federal prosecutors allege there lay something far more sinister.
Now, the three brothers are on trial accused of running a sex-trafficking operation spanning more than a decade. According to prosecutors, the trio used their wealth and status to lure women and underage girls with the promise of lavish trips and parties so they could drug and rape them. The brothers have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Despite the gravity of the allegations, the Alexander family has put on a united – and upbeat – display inside the courtroom, attending every day of the trial so far.
Oren, Tal and Alon Alexander (left to right) are facing federal sex trafficking charges in Manhattan court
Alon’s former Victoria’s Secret model wife Shani Zigron smiles as she arrives at court Tuesday
Wednesday was no different.
The brothers’ parents Shlomi and Orly Alexander arrived early, smiling and chatting to other family members in the corridors of the courthouse.
When the courtroom doors opened, big smiles and waves were then exchanged between them and the three brothers sitting flanked by their high-powered legal teams.
Arriving a little later, Alon’s former Victoria’s Secret fashion model wife, Shani Zigron, beamed and made a playful, curtsy gesture to announce her presence.
All dressed up for the day in fur coats, statement sunglasses, tweeds and suits, the brothers’ relatives, friends and supporters filled two rows behind the defense table.
Throughout the day, they were seen chatting, laughing, smiling, taking notes and passing yellow pieces of paper to each other while listening to grueling testimony about the three brothers’ alleged assaults.
At one point, their father Shlomi even smirked and smiled as a witness described in graphic detail the sex noises and moans she testified she heard the brothers make while raping a screaming woman.
But the stunning images of the writings on the walls and the testimony from the witness finally seemed to wipe the smiles from the faces of the family members – even prompting Shlomi to corner one of his son’s defense attorneys for an apparent scolding during the afternoon break.
Abusshan Bodjnoud, who works as a Chief Information Management Officer for the UN in New York City, testified that she witnessed an unidentified woman being raped by Tal and one of the twin brothers in May 2009.
Alon Alexander and wife Shani Zigron. The Alexander family has put on a united – and upbeat – display inside the courtroom, attending every day of the trial so far
Oren left, Tal second left and Alon right. Beneath the surface of their flashy lifestyles, federal prosecutors allege lay something far more sinister
Bodjnoud, who was 27 at the time, testified that she had been invited by a friend named David to a shared house in the Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend in 2009.
She had never met the Alexander brothers before then and only knew one other person on the trip.
On the second night of the trip, Bodjnoud testified that she had gone to a restaurant with a group of people and then returned to the house. She was sober, having only had a glass or two to drink at dinner and no drinks back at the house, she said.
While several others went out that night, she told the court she was tired so stayed behind with a man named Liam.
Bodjnoud testified that they were lying on the living room couch when Tal, one of the Alexander twins and two or three other men returned home with a girl.
Tal had the girl by the wrist and was ‘dragging’ her outside the glass doors that lead from the living room to the pool area, she testified.
Bodjnoud said she could tell the girl was intoxicated ‘from her face but also because she was not walking on her own.’
As the group passed her on the sofa, one of the men stopped and exposed himself to her by pulling down his pants, she told the court. Bodjnoud was ‘completely shocked’ by the unidentified man’s behavior.
‘Then the next thing I heard was a woman screaming and just asking people to stop,’ she testified.
The brothers’ parents Shlomi and Orly Alexander (seen arriving Thursday) smiled and chatted to family and friends in the courtroom Wednesday
Shlomi Alexander lunged at the Daily Mail’s photographer outside Manhattan federal court last week. On Wednesday, he cornered a defense attorney in the courtroom after damning testimony from a witness
On hearing the woman’s screams, Bodjnoud testified she got up and went out the glass doors to see what was happening. Through the light from the jacuzzi, she told the court she could see Tal and the twin in the hot tub with the woman, raping her.
‘I could see the bodies slapping. I could see the movements,’ she testified.
The girl, who has not been identified, was screaming and asking them to stop ‘over and over and over,’ she testified.
‘They continued raping her,’ she told the court, adding that she heard the brothers moaning with pleasure while the woman screamed.
Bodjnoud testified that she felt ‘terrified’ but also ‘helpless.’
She said she went to her room in the house where she heard the alleged attack continue for another 15 to 20 minutes.
She thought about calling 911 or even the UN Security Council, but felt that she had ‘no allies’ inside the home who were also willing to take action.
‘I was worried this would happen to me as well,’ she testified.
Bodjnoud had planned to stay at the Hamptons home for longer but told the court she wanted to ‘escape’ immediately because of what happened. Liam allegedly told her they would have to wait until the morning to get the first Long Island Rail Road train back to Manhattan.
She stayed in her room for a few hours then she and Liam left the home to get the first train.
As she was leaving, she decided to write messages on the walls and doors of the home. ‘I felt I had to do something… so I took out my eyeliner and wrote on the walls and door,’ she testified.
High profile real estate agent brothers Tal Alexander, Alon Alexander and Oren Alexander gesture to their parents in a court sketch. A witness testified Wednesday that she saw Tal and one of the twins rape a woman in 2009
The court was shown photos of her scribbles.
‘Rapists!’ read a message on one door.
‘You need to apologize! Apologize!!!!’ read another.
A third warned: ‘I’ll call 911’.
Bodjnoud choked back tears as she testified she wrote the messages in the ‘hope that one day they could be used as evidence’ if the victim came forward.
She did not know who had taken the photos of her writings and, to this day, she does not know who the woman was. It is currently unclear if the woman is one of the alleged victims testifying at the brothers’ trial.
Bodjnoud came forward in 2024, sending a tip to the FBI after she saw the Alexander brothers had been arrested.
Sobbing, she said she felt a need to do so because she hadn’t 15 years earlier.
‘I feel responsible… I don’t know if she ever talked about it, or if she is one of the victims,’ she said of the woman.
During cross-examination, Bodjnoud was grilled about why she didn’t call 911 or come forward at the time.
On the night, she said she was ‘terrified’ and didn’t feel like anyone else inside the home was an ‘ally.’
Orly tries to cover her face as she enters the courthouse for her sons’ trial Thursday morning
Then, when she got home to Manhattan, she alleged she had received an ‘intimidating’ call from David, the friend who had invited her to the house.
Bodjnoud testified that he said to her: ‘What have you done? You have embarrassed me… they are successful real estate brokers, they’re powerful… nothing happened to you.’
She said she felt ‘intimidated’ that the brothers were ‘powerful people.’
After that weekend, Bodjnoud said she never interacted with David or the Alexander brothers again. However, she did admit she followed Tal on Instagram sometime later.
Bodjnoud also told the court about a shocking alleged comment made by her friend Liam in response to the alleged rape.
‘Why are you surprised? Why are you shocked? Why are you disgusted by what is happening in this house? The brothers are pigs,’ he allegedly told her.
The stunning comments were revealed after the judge told the defense they had opened the door to the evidence during their line of questioning.
During the afternoon break, Shlomi was seen giving some stern words to one of the defense attorneys – cornering one and gesticulating at him in the courtroom.
Zigron, Orly and the other family members also grew stony-faced during the testimony and stared intently at a series of photos from the weekend shown in court.
The photos showed several young men and women partying on a bus, inside the shared Southampton home and around the pool area and at restaurants and bars nearby. The Alexander brothers are seen in some of the images.
Identical twins Alon and Oren, 38, have pleaded not guilty to all counts. They face life behind bars if convicted of the most severe charges
Oren, seen with his wife Kamila Hansen, and Tal were powerful real estate brokers to the stars
Orly was also seen passing yellow pieces of paper to her husband, while Alon’s loyal wife’s composure faltered as she leant forward resting her arms on her knees.
The brothers, meanwhile, also passed notes back and forth to each other and to their lawyers.
Their defense attorneys tried to pick holes in Bodjnoud’s story, saying she originally told the FBI in her tip that she heard but did not see the alleged attack from her room.
Bodjnoud stood by her statements saying that the emailed tip did not go into the full detail of what happened – and that, when she had moved to the bedroom of the home, she could no longer see what was happening.
Earlier Wednesday, a woman using the pseudonym Kaylee Brown returned to the stand after testifying how Alon and Oren had drugged and raped her friend on a trip to Aspen, Colorado, in January 2017.
Brown and two friends were all minors, just 17, at the time and had gone on a trip together to the ski resort. One of the friends testified earlier in the week, under the pseudonym Maylyn, that Alon drugged her and then raped her in a hotel room bathroom.
Brown testified in court she had passed out on a bed inside the hotel room and woke as Alon entered the room. Alon then lay down next to her, she testified, and put his hands down her pants.
She removed his hand and quickly left with Maylyn.
Brown testified that she did not know what had happened to her friend for some time.
Around 10 days later, she was in New York City for Fashion Week and Alon was texting her to come to his apartment. She did not go.
The trial continues.
If convicted, the three brothers are facing up to life in prison.
