U.S. President Donald Trump holds a proclamation he signed for National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
A legal expert says a letter from a former Trump lawyer reveals what it may cost convicted sex traffickers to chase a pardon.
Former prosecutor Katie Phang said in a video for her YouTube channel "Katie Phang News" on Thursday that Alan Dershowitz, who defended President Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial, billed the family of convicted sex traffickers Oren, Tal and Alon Alexander for work that included "reviewing options for clemency and pardons."
All three brothers were convicted in March on every count in a federal sex trafficking case in Manhattan. Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York filed a 130-page sentencing memorandum Wednesday seeking life in prison for each of them. They're set to be sentenced October 27 by U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni.
According to The New York Times, which reviewed the documents, the Alexander family paid Dershowitz a $250,000 retainer in March 2025. Phang said a later letter from Dershowitz to the brothers' mother and the family's accountant logged more than 142 hours of work through June 2026 and asked for another $250,000.
"Wow. Is that the going rate to try to get a pardon in Trump world now by way of Alan Dershowitz?" Phang said.
She noted that Dershowitz played a role in at least 12 clemency grants during Trump's first term, including two pardons and 10 commutations.
Phang also flagged another Trump family tie. Oren and Tal Alexander, who were once among the top-earning real estate brokers in the country, represented Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump when the couple bought a $24 million Florida mansion in 2021.
"Of course, there's a tie to the Trump family here," Phang said. "Folks, I can't make up the connections. They just exist."
The sentencing memo describes a scheme that prosecutors say traces back to the brothers' high school years in South Florida. Phang read from the memo's opening, which states that "Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander have been convicted of sex crimes of extraordinary magnitude." Prosecutors wrote that more than 70 women came forward with accounts of assault, and 11 testified at trial.
The defense has argued the brothers should get the 15-year mandatory minimum. Prosecutors rejected the defense's claim that the assaults were less serious because they happened in social settings.
"I don't even want to read to you the details of what these victims testified about because they are so disgusting," she said. "They turn my stomach."
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