NEW YORK (AP) — Getting married and allegedly embracing a monogamous lifestyle cannot prove the innocence of a man charged in a conspiracy with his two brothers — both luxury real estate brokers — to sexually assault dozens of women, a federal judge said Monday.
Judge Valerie E. Caproni rejected Alon Alexander’s request to dismiss one count of the indictment he faces and use his 2019 engagement and subsequent marriage as a defense at a trial scheduled to start next week in Manhattan with jury selection.
The three brothers — Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander — are jailed without bail after pleading not guilty to conspiracy and other charges alleging that they drugged and raped women.
Oren Alexander and Tal Alexander sold high-end properties in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles before the charges were filed alleging that they used their wealth and influence to attack women from 2002 to 2021.
Alon Alexander's lawyers argued that getting engaged and married signaled his exit from the single life and amounted to a withdrawal from any alleged conspiracy.
Caproni said he “saw an opportunity to reach for the prize” and try to win an acquittal with the argument as she denied his request and said he is also precluded from introducing evidence of his engagement and marriage at the trial.
The judge wrote that proof of Alon Alexander’s engagement and marriage is irrelevant and amounted to hearsay that could not be introduced at trial, including photographs, social media posts and home videos of his engagement announcement, along with statements from his co-defendants and a rabbi.
In a footnote, Caproni wrote that Alon Alexander's contention that his withdrawal from “the single life” meant he abandoned any conduct that could be part of the sex abuse conspiracy “fails to adequately grapple with the nuance of the Government's allegations or the contours of a sex trafficking conspiracy more generally.”
She said participation in the criminal conspiracy was not “comparable or akin to participation in ‘the single life.’”
“There are plenty of single men who engage in sexual activity without trafficking, drugging, or raping women and girls,” the judge said. “By the same token, the inverse of the Government's alleged conspiracy is not, for example, ‘the engaged life’ or ‘the married life.’”
Thus, she said, there is nothing about the “mere transition from ‘single’ to ‘engaged’ that clearly indicates that Defendant withdrew himself from the conspiracy, or that he would cease helping his brothers accomplish the goals of the conspiracy — even if his participation in the scheme no longer involved him having sex (consensual or otherwise) with women that were not his fiancee."
FILE - In this screenshot, Miami Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer is seen via video presiding over the first court appearance of Alon Alexander, who is charged with sexual battery along with his twin brother, Oren Alexander, on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in Miami. (Miami Dade Circuit Court via AP, Pool, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is headed to Copenhagen later this week in an attempt to show unity between the United States and Denmark as President Donald Trump continues to threaten to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of the NATO ally.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., is leading the trip of at least nine members of Congress, including Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The group will be in Copenhagen on Friday and Saturday, according to a congressional aide familiar with the trip's planning. The lawmakers will meet with high-level Danish government officials and business leaders, according to the aide, granted anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.
The trip comes as China said Monday that the United States shouldn't use other countries as a “pretext” to pursue its interests in Greenland and said that its activities in the Arctic comply with international law.
The comment by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson came in response to a question at a regular daily briefing. U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, to prevent Russia or China from taking it over.
Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO. On Friday, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and the leaders of the four other parties in the territory's parliament issued a joint statement reiterating that Greenland's future must be decided by its people and emphasizing their “wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends.”
Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. needs to “take Greenland,” otherwise Russia or China would, in comments aboard Air Force One on Sunday. He said he’d rather “make a deal” for the territory, “but one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”
China in 2018 declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in an effort to gain more influence in the region. Beijing has also announced plans to build a “Polar Silk Road” as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative, which has created economic links with countries around the world.
Asked in Beijing Monday about U.S. statements that it is necessary for Washington to take over Greenland to prevent China and Russia from taking control, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning replied that “China’s activities in the Arctic are aimed at promoting peace, stability, and sustainable development in the region and are in accordance with international law.” She didn't elaborate on those activities.
“The rights and freedoms of all countries to conduct activities in the Arctic in accordance with the law should be fully respected,” Mao said, without mentioning Greenland directly. “The U.S. should not pursue its own interests by using other countries as a pretext.”
She said that “the Arctic concerns the overall interests of the international community.”
Danish and Greenlandic envoys are expected in Washington this week for talks, and plans are also being put together for U.S. senators to visit Denmark.
FILE - Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
FILE - A boat rides though a frozen sea inlet outside of Nuuk, Greenland, on March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
