The first woman to publicly accuse high-profile twins Oren and Alon Alexander of sexual assault has been found dead in Australia last year, according to new reports.
Kate Whiteman sued the men in March 2024, saying they sexually assaulted her in New York state in 2012. Months later they were arrested along with their older brother and charged with sex trafficking offenses.
The investigation into the death of Whiteman, 45, by the New South Wales coroner’s office has now ended, finding his death not suspicious.
The Alexander brothers – who have denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to criminal charges – will face trial later this month.
The coroner’s office said they could not release any additional information about Whiteman’s death, out of consideration for grieving family members.
It’s unclear what role, if any, Whiteman will have to play in the prosecution’s case. The BBC has contacted prosecutors for comment.
A PR representative for Alexander’s siblings said they were not aware of Whiteman’s death.
“The decision to release this information to the public on the eve of the trial invites obvious questions,” they said.
The older brother, Tal, and Oren Alexander work for real estate giant Douglas Elliman, listing properties for celebrities including Liam Gallagher, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. In 2022, they founded their own company based in New York called Official. Alon works for the family’s private security company, Kent Security.
A day after Whiteman made his accusations, a second woman, Rebecca Mandel, also filed a lawsuit against Oren and Alon, saying the pair drugged and assaulted her at a party in 2010.
In the following months, a series of other women went to news publications with accusations of sexual assault against all three brothers. Many also claimed that they were drugged.
As of February 2025, the New York Times says that at least 17 women have filed civil lawsuits against one or more of the brothers, with accusations of attacks in Miami, Manhattan and even Moscow.
All allegations have been denied by all three of Alexander’s brothers.
In their initial indictment, prosecutors alleged that from at least 2010, the three brothers “worked together and with others to commit sex trafficking, including repeatedly drugging, sexually assaulting, and raping multiple female victims”.
At their arraignment in February 2025, prosecutors told the judge they intended to update their case with additional alleged victims, saying they had interviewed more than 60 women who said at least one of the brothers raped them.
A lawyer for one of the brothers told BBC partner CBS that the charges were an “overreach” by the government and “absolutely” do not amount to sex trafficking.
“We have no doubt that the evidence will prove that these are all false allegations and that the Alexanders are innocent,” they said.
They have been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for the past 13 months, with their trial set to begin on January 26.