T
he world of residential real estate has been shaken by allegations of sexual assault against twin brothers Oren and Alon Alexander, who are both real estate agents. The accusations date back to when they were in high school and involve more than a dozen women, including top Los Angeles broker Tracy Tutor and model Samantha Murphy, the wife of former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy. The Alexanders have denied the allegations, as has their brother Alon, who works in their family’s private security business.

    Two civil lawsuits have been filed against the brothers under laws that temporarily eliminated the statute of limitations for adult victims of sexual or gender-motivated violence to seek damages from their alleged attackers. The FBI is also interviewing women who were allegedly assaulted by the brothers.

    The lawsuits highlight the complexities of suing over sexual assault claims and New York law about decade-old allegations. Civil lawsuits require a lower burden of proof than criminal proceedings, where prosecutors have to prove a defendant committed a crime “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This can be especially difficult when the alleged crimes happened several years ago and may be outside the legal window to bring charges, which varies by state.

    In New York, where the allegations occurred, a state law passed in 2019 eliminated the statute of limitations for first-degree rape and extended the timeframe to prosecute other sex crimes, including second- and third-degree rape. The provision also moved the deadline to file civil lawsuits from a year after the alleged attack to 20 years.

    However, the law applies only to crimes alleged to have occurred after it took effect. New York state and New York City Council bridged this gap by passing separate laws re-opening windows for adult victims of sexual or gender-motivated violence to sue their alleged perpetrators regardless of how long ago the attack occurred. The lookback period established under the state’s Adult Survivors Act opened on Nov. 23, 2023, and closed exactly a year later, while the city’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law opened last March and will remain open until March 2025.

    It often takes most people who have been sexually assaulted a long time to come forward, and it takes them years to come to terms with the assault, said attorney Ann Olivarius, who represents victims of sexual violence, discrimination, and online abuse. Filing civil lawsuits can be “the only way to get justice,” she said.

    The timelines established in the city and state laws are at the center of arguments by Oren and Alon’s attorneys against at least two of the lawsuits, including the case filed last November by Rebecca Mandel and another filed earlier this year by Angelica Parker.

    In Mandel’s case, the twin brothers’ attorneys filed a motion to dismiss, arguing she missed the deadline established by the Adult Survivors Act. Mandel sued the brothers on Nov. 24, which falls outside of the law’s Nov. 23 cutoff, which fell on last year’s Thanksgiving holiday. The judge has not yet ruled on the motion.

    In Parker’s lawsuit, attorneys for Oren and Alon in August filed a motion to dismiss her complaint, arguing the state’s Adult Survivors Law overrides the lookback window in the city’s gender-motivated violence law. However, attorneys for three of the women pushed back against that assertion. Parker’s attorney Michael Willemin said “there is no legitimate basis to claim that the state intended to preempt New York City’s gender-motivated violence law’s filing deadlines.”

    Evan Torgan, who is representing two plaintiffs suing the Alexanders, said the city’s law is distinct from the one passed by the state, and since the two govern separate issues, one doesn’t supersede the other. “The New York State Appellate Court has already decided this issue saying these are civil rights actions involving violence based upon gender, not solely rape cases,” Torgan said. “These women will not be stopped on legal technicalities. They will have their collective day in court.”

    Torgan told TRD that since June, he and his colleagues have been contacted by 45 women who reported being assaulted by one or more of the brothers. The lawsuits aren’t criminal indictments, and it could take months for criminal charges to be filed. More women may be waiting for the criminal investigation to move forward to file new complaints. A criminal indictment or guilty verdict often strengthens civil claims, but civil litigation and a criminal probe can move forward simultaneously.

    About a month before the dismissal motion, Tal’s attorney responded to the allegations in Parker’s complaint by denying her claims and pushing for a jury trial.