MIAMI (AP) — Prominent real estate broker Oren Alexander and his twin brother Alon will remain in custody following their initial court appearance in Miami on Friday.
The brothers had sought bond on charges of sex trafficking and gang rape. But federal prosecutors argued that they were a flight risk and a danger to the community. Judge Ellen D’ Angelo set a Dec. 30 detention hearing.
The judge read each brother the charges they faced and informed them of their rights.
Last week, another judge in Miami rejected a $115 million bail package proposed by their older brother Tal Alexander that would have allowed all three men who are prominent in luxury real estate in Florida and New York to be released pending trial in New York City.
The brothers were charged last week in New York with luring, drugging and violently raping dozens of women over more than a decade. Alon and Oren Alexander also face state charges in Florida stemming from three alleged sexual assaults.
All three Alexander brothers will remain in custody in Florida. They have denied the allegations, saying through their attorneys that any sex was consensual.
Oren and Tal Alexander are known for brokering deals on high-end properties in New York City and Miami for clients that included Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Liam Gallagher, and Lindsay Lohan. In 2022, they started a new real estate company called Official.
Alon Alexander attended law school and joined the family’s private security business.
This photo provided by Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department shows from left, Alon Alexander and Oren Alexander, both have been charged with sex trafficking, according to a federal indictment unsealed in New York on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department via AP.
Oren Alexander, 37, center, and his twin brother, Alon, center-right, speak to their attorney Joel Denaro during their bond hearing after being charged with multiple state and federal crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, Pool)
Alon Alexander, 37, right, and his twin brother, Oren, left, attend their bond hearing at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building after being charged with multiple state and federal crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, Pool)
Oren Alexander, 37, attends his bond hearing after being charged with multiple state and federal crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, Pool)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is heading toward the finish of a strong week as U.S. stocks rise on Friday close to the all-time high they set just a few months earlier, though it may feel like an economic era ago.
The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in afternoon trading and potentially heading for a fifth straight gain. It’s on track for a 5% rise for the week, which would be its third winning week in the last four, as hopes build that President Donald Trump will lower his tariffs against other countries after reaching trade deals with them. Such hopes have driven the S&P 500 back within 3.3% of its record set in February after it briefly dropped roughly 20% below the mark last month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 208 points, or 0.5%, as of 1:57 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
Trump’s trade war had sent financial markets reeling worldwide because of twin dangers. On one hand, tariffs could slow the economy and drive it into a recession. On the other, tariffs could push inflation higher.
But this week featured some encouraging news on both fronts. The United States and China announced a 90-day stand-down in most of their punishing tariffs against each other, while a couple reports on inflation in the United States came in better than economists expected.
It was “a week to remember,” according to economists at Bank of America led by Claudio Irigoyen and Antonio Gabriel. But they also said they're not expecting a significant drop in volatility, and they're not changing big-picture forecasts.
“There is still huge uncertainty regarding the impact of tariffs on economic activity and inflation,” they said in a BofA Global Research report.
That uncertainty has been hitting U.S. households and businesses, raising worries that they may freeze their spending and long-term plans in response, which would hurt the economy. The latest reading in a survey of U.S. consumers by the University of Michigan showed sentiment soured again in May, though the pace of decline wasn't as bad as in prior months.
Perhaps more worryingly, expectations for coming inflation keep building, and U.S. consumers are now bracing for 7.3% in the next 12 months, according to the University of Michigan's preliminary survey results. That's up from a forecast of 6.5% a month before.
When everyone expects inflation to be high, it could kick off a vicious cycle of behavior that only worsens inflation.
To be sure, only some of the University of Michigan's survey responses for the preliminary May reading came after the United States and China announced their 90-day truce.
On Wall Street, Charter Communications rose 1.6% after it said it agreed to merge with Cox Communications in a deal that would combine two of the country’s largest cable companies. The resulting company will change its name to Cox Communications and keep Charter’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in the United States fell 2.9% after the Danish company behind the Wegovy drug for weight loss said that Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen will step down as CEO and that the board is looking for his successor. The company cited “recent market challenges” and how the stock has been performing recently.
In the bond market, Treasury yields were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.44% from 4.45% late Thursday and from more than 4.50% the day before that. Lower bond yields can encourage investors to pay higher prices for stocks and other investments.
The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for action by the Federal Reserve, rose to 3.98% from 3.96%. It had been as low as 3.93% earlier in the morning, before the release of the University of Michigan's survey.
Hope remains that this week’s better-than-expected signals on inflation could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to cut interest rates later this year if high tariffs drag down the U.S. economy.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Asia and higher in Europe.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 inched down by less than 0.1% after the government reported that Japan’s economy contracted at a faster rate than expected in the first quarter of the year.
AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.
Specialist John McNierney, left, and trader Anthony Carannante work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Trader Edward Curran works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Jonathan Corpina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader William Lawrence works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traders Jonathan Mueller, right, and Michael Capolino work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
