Power and money can’t — and shouldn’t — shield South Florida men from sex-crime charges | Opinion

Here are some of the appalling details of the allegations against the Alexander brothers of South Florida, luxury real estate moguls arrested last week in a sprawling bombshell of a sex-trafficking case: According to the indictment, the brothers lured dozens women to parties, hotels and homes, drugging and raping them, sometimes paying for the women’s transportation across state lines or to other countries such as Mexico.

The scope of the case alone is awful. So far, there are 40 women — yes, 40 — with credible rape complaints against at least one of the three Alexander brothers, the lead FBI agent testified recently.

Nothing has been proven. Lawyers will make their arguments, most likely in New York courts. And yet there’s a deja vu feeling at play. Here we are again watching another sex-crime case unfold that involves men with wealth and position in South Florida — from Jeffrey Epstein to Sean “Diddy” Combs — who seem, if the allegations are true, to see women as less than human.

The alleged sexual assaults stretched over 20 years, though the brothers are just 37 (twins Oren and Alon) and 38 (Tal.) That means in some instances the alleged attacks would have happened while they were in their teens.

Their friend, Ohad Fisherman, returned early from his honeymoon in Japan to face sexual battery charges this week in Miami-Dade. Among the allegations against him: He helped the twins rape a woman in a Miami Beach apartment in 2016 by holding her down while the others took turns.

There’s a lot of money involved, too. The brothers, who may face life in prison, amassed wealth in the Manhattan and Miami Beach real estate markets, as well as through the family’s security business. Tal Alexander’s proposed bail package was denied even though it would have been secured by his parents’ Bal Harbour waterfront home and other family real estate holdings in Miami Beach for a total of $115 million. A federal magistrate judge said the brother is a “risk of flight” because of his wealth and ties to Israel.

This is a sharp contrast to the way Epstein’s wealth seemed to have shielded him 16 years ago. In 2008, he pleaded guilty in a Florida court to soliciting a minor for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. He was sentenced to 13 months behind bars but was regularly allowed to leave under a liberal work release program.

He had to register as a sex offender and yet somehow — he still had a lot of money — that didn’t seem to dent his social standing. He continued associating with the rich and famous in Palm Beach all the way up to his July 2019 arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges. He died a month later, apparently by suicide, in a Manhattan jail cell.

For context, two years earlier, the #MeToo movement rocked the nation as several women accused former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse. Weinstein is now in prison and MeToo has helped change how the public and law enforcement look at women who come forward with accusations of sex crimes.

Last spring, there was Combs and his Star Island mansion, which played a starring role in the sex-trafficking case against him. Last month, he offered to use the $50 million mansion, which was raided by the feds in March, as collateral for bail but he was turned down. Combs has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, accused of preying on vulnerable women, and also men, and trafficking them with the help of a private jet and a Caribbean island property.

Combs remains jailed. His trial is scheduled to begin in May. He has denied all charges in the case. But if proven true, the allegations against him — including the drug-fueled gatherings known as “freak offs” he’s accused of throwing — and in the other cases serve to offer a glimpse behind the facade of luxury and privilege of some of South Florida’s elite. If there is one overriding point to consider from all of these cases, it’s that no amount of wealth and power should shield men from being held accountable for the way they treat women.

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