Tal Alexander accused of rape in alleged coordinated attack

Lawsuit against top New York broker follows claims against twin brothers

Top New York Real Estate Broker Tal Alexander Accused of Rape

Tal Alexander (right) with Oren and Alon Alexander (Illustration by The Real Deal; Getty)

Jun 18, 2024, 3:04 PM

Top broker Tal Alexander, along with his brother Alon Alexander, has been accused of raping and assaulting a woman in New York more than a decade ago, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday and first reported by The Real Deal.

The complaint, filed by Angelica Parker, alleges Tal, co-founder of the brokerage Official, and Alon, a security executive based in South Florida, attacked Parker in the fall of 2012 at a Manhattan apartment the brothers were sharing at the time.

Oren, who co-founded Official with Tal, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which accuses him of coordinating and witnessing the attack.

“Today’s lawsuit is intended to send a message that the law applies even to the very wealthy and well connected, including the Alexanders,” Parker’s attorney, Michael Willemin wrote in a statement. “We have no doubt that the Alexanders will amass an army of PR reps and private investigators to launch a victim shaming campaign.”

The allegations against Tal come after two lawsuits were filed in New York in March accusing Oren and Alon of raping at least two women, Kate Whiteman and Rebecca Mandel, more than a decade ago, which TRD first reported earlier this month.

The complaint alleges that at the apartment, Oren and Alon offered Parker and a friend ecstasy, which they declined. Alon made them drinks and began groping the friend, according to the complaint. The friend left, but stayed in a stairwell in the apartment building out of concern for Parker.

Alon allegedly raped Parker, and Tal began to orally rape Parker, “despite her very clear verbal protests and inability to force him away,” the lawsuit alleges.

A spokesperson for Tal denied the allegations in a statement and said they were “fully expected … given the allegations against Tal’s brothers.”

“Anyone hoping to peddle outrageous lies in hopes of a quick payday are going to find themselves disappointed,” the spokesperson wrote in the statement.

The lawsuit was filed under an extension of New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which opened a two-year window for survivors to sue their alleged perpetrators regardless of how long ago the attacks occurred. The window opened last March and will close in March 2025.

Days after the allegations against Oren and Alon were made public, Whiteman and Mandel’s attorney, Evan Torgan, told TRD that 28 more alleged victims had contacted him. And on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported accounts by five women alleging they had been sexually assaulted by Oren in alleged attacks in high school and as recently as 2020.

Tal was not named as a defendant in the lawsuits filed earlier this year, but Torgan told TRD that he received “numerous statements from people who say they were raped by Tal.”

Plaintiff Angelica Parker, formerly known as Angelica Cecora, sued boxer Oscar De La Hoya in 2012 over allegations of battery and false imprisonment, but a judge ordered her to pay De La Hoya’s legal fees and a $500 fine, calling her lawsuit “completely without merit,” the New York Post reported.

Oren and Alon’s former attorney, Jim Ferraro of the Ferraro Law Firm, denied the allegations and called the two initial lawsuits a “shakedown.” Ferraro withdrew as the Alexanders’ attorney on Monday, and the two brought on seasoned rape-defense attorney, Isabelle Kirschner.

Oren and Alon have been subject to sexual assault allegations dating back more than a decade, according to a lawsuit filed by the two brothers in Florida in 2013. The complaint claims the anonymous author of a blog and other message boards spread “false and defamatory statements” accusing Oren and Alon of committing rape.

A judge granted a temporary injunction requiring the publisher to remove the posts. The blog has also been removed.

The deadline for Oren and Alon to respond to the Whiteman and Mandel lawsuits is Aug. 19.

Official severed ties with Oren after TRD broke the news about the allegations against the twin brothers. His bio has since been removed from the company’s website and his license is inactive in Florida and New York as of last week, records show.

Sources told TRD on Thursday that Michael Stern’s JDS Development is planning to replace Official as the head of sales at its Dolce & Gabbana-branded project in Brickell.

Official is also leading sales of the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts-branded Raleigh redevelopment in Miami Beach. Developer Michael Shvo did not respond to requests for comment regarding whether his firm is still working with Official.

Oren and Tal Alexander co-founded Official in 2022 with former Douglas Elliman employees Nicole Oge, Richard Jordan and Andrew Wachtfogel.

Oge did not respond to multiple requests for comment last week, but in a statement sent to TRD through a spokesperson on Thursday, Oge said that Official was still working on both projects.

“Rumors are an unavoidable part of our industry, but results matter and we will continue to deliver,” she wrote.