"RAPISTS SCRAWLED ON THE DOOR: ALEXANDER BROTHERS' SEX TRAFFICKING HORROR & ZUCKERBERG GRILLED ON INSTAGRAM'S CHILD ADDICTION MACHINE"

0:03 Callaroga Shark Media, Good morning, I'm read Carter Friday, February twentieth, twenty twenty six. Two trials dominating the news cycle right now, Both massive, both potentially historic. Let me catch you up Manhattan. The Alexander Brothers sex trafficking trial. Three brothers Tal thirty nine and Twins or In and a Lawn thirty eight, charged with masterminding a decade long conspiracy to drug and rape women using their wealth, luxury, real estate, empire, and party scene connections. Three weeks of testimony before Judge Valerie Caproni, nine alleged victims took the stand, Jurors saw photographs of the word rapists scrawled in eyeliner on a door at a Hampton's mansion, text messages where one brother boasted about twin DP being the special on the menu, another text telling a friend to throw some pante dropper pills in the dishes. A juror was dismissed for reaching a verdict before the trial was over. The trial is on a ten day break. Resumes February twenty fourth. Today we're doing a comprehensive recap of what the jury has seen so far.

1:20 Los Angeles, Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg walked into a courtroom and testified before a jury for the first time in his career. The question did Meta deliberately design Instagram to addict children and destroy their mental health? Internal documents showed over four million users under thirteen on a platform that requires you to be thirteen to join. Instagram's own head Adam Musseri, testified last week that he doesn't believe social media addiction exists. Parents who lost children to social media slept on the courthouse steps to get seats. A judge threatened contempt over someone wearing Meta's ab smart glasses in the courtroom. I'm Reed, Carter today. Two trials that could reshape how we think about power, wealth, and corporate accountability in America. This is celebrity trials. Let's start in Manhattan, Southern District of New York, United States. Versus Ailon Alexander Orin Alexander and Tal Alexander.

2:26 Before their arrests in December twenty twenty four, Oran and Tal Alexander were luxury real estate titans Miami born sold some of America's most expensive properties penthouse deals, celebrity clients, multimillion dollar commissions, A Lawn worked at a private security firm owned by the family. Between them, the brothers lived the kind of life most people only see on reality television. Mansions, yachts, exclusive parties, Hampton's weekends, ski trips in Aspen, cruise ships to the Bahamas. Prosecutors say all of it was a hunting ground. The indictment twelve counts conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, inducement to travel, to engage in unlawful sexual activity, sexual abuse by physical incapacitation, sexual exploitation of a miner. Eight named victims in the indictment, including two who were under age, but prosecutors interviewed more than sixty women who reported being raped or sexually assaulted by at least one of the brothers. Sixty women. Let that sink in. The brothers hired heavy hitters for their defense.

3:36 Orrin tapped Mark Agnifilo and Tenny Garrigos, the same attorneys who represented Sean Ditty Combs in his federal sex trafficking trial last year. The team that got Ditty acquitted on sex trafficking and racketeering. Now they're trying to do the same for the Alexander brothers. They also retained Judah Engelmeyer, the public relations strategist who previously represented Harvey Weinstein. The defense argument boils down to this, These weren't traffickers. These were single men who liked to party, who pursued women at nightclubs and bars, who hooked up. That's not trafficking, that's dating. Teeny Geragos told the jury that the government is trying to turn their life of partying into one of the most serious crimes we have. Deanna Paul, representing Tal, acknowledged her client was a womanizer, but said there's no evidence he acted unlawfully. Now, let me tell you what the jury has heard over three weeks, because it doesn't sound like dating. Week one. The prosecution's first witness was a woman testifying under the pseudonym Katie Moore. She described meeting the brothers at a New York City nightclub called Provocateur, accepted a drink from someone in their group. Her body immediately started swaying. Not gradual, not like getting drunk, sudden, like a switch being flipped, loss of control, confusion, darkness.

4:53 Moore woke up naked on a bed with Alon standing over her, also naked. She had no idea what had happened, tried to get out of bed, Ailon kept pushing her back down. She was thirty four years old when she told the jury, I'm thirty four years old now, and I know who I am, and I want someone held accountable for what was done to me. Another woman testifying under the pseudonym Amelia Rosen, was shown a video of her own alleged rape, a video she'd never seen before, found on a backup of Orn's computer, sent the same night it was captured. She was seventeen years old in the video, had no memory of the encounter or the recording, was contacted by the government and shown what had been done to her. The video was played privately for individual jury members. That's not dating, that's not hooking up. That's a video of an unconscious seventeen year old found on a man's hard drive. Week two more witnesses, more alleged victims, and then the messages. Prosecutors unveiled a trove of texts, emails, and group chats pulled from the brother's phones and computers.

5:58 The brother's own words words, let me read you some of what the jury saw. After a three day party cruise from Miami to the Bahamas in January twenty twelve, Alon texted a friend, biggest fuck fest I've ever seen twin DP was the special on the menu, DP standing for double penetration, bragging about it to a friend in writing. In a separate exchange after the same cruise, Alon wrote that he didn't sleep once during the trip because he was just hunting the whole time, said his friend Dylan brought a camera and filmed a lot. When the friend asked if Dylan had slept with anyone, Alon responded, he's not as aggressive as Orn and I. The friend remarked that few people are Elon replied, that's true hunting. That's the word he used, hunting. A woman testifying under the pseudonym Ronda Stone, described being on that same cruise. Said she approached the twins to buy MDMA during a late night DJ set, followed them back to their cabin, accepted a mixed drink, blacked out almost immediately. When she regained consciousness, one of the brothers was on top of her, raping her, while the other was having sex with another woman in the next bed. She watched helplessly as they went back and forth, then blacked out again. Prosecutors also found a note on Oran's iCloud account functioned like a diary of the creuse bullet pointed entries for each day. Most were redacted.

7:26 One surviving entry from Saturday Night SAT Late night thick blonde. That's how he cataloged women, two words and a physical descriptor in a bullet pointed list. More messages emerged in September twenty eleven. A lawn texted about an upcoming party, telling someone to throw some panty dropper pills in the dishes sent to our table. Other exchanges referenced g HB, qualudes, ambion, ketamine, and xanax, all drugs that can cause loss of motor function in paired consciousness and memory loss, exactly what multiple women described experiencing. The defense called some of the messages crude jokes. The prosecution's medical expert, doctor Stacey Hale, testified that g HB is useful to commit sexual assault because its colorless, odorless, and virtually tasteless. Week three, the testimony got worse. Meelen Garrett took the stand and accused Alan of drugging and raping her during a ski trip in Aspen, Colorado, in January twenty seventeen. She was seventeen, said Alan spotted her at the now shuttered Bootsy Bellows Club, invited her and two friends to their table, handed her drinks. Her head started feeling really heavy, could barely hold it up.

8:46 The twins invited the girls to what they described as an after party, took them to an empty hotel room with two beds. Alan allegedly assaulted Garrett in the bathroom. Her friend, testifying as Katie Brown, set along, then got into bed with her and put his hand down her pants. She removed his hand and left with Garrett. Judge Caproni noted that the jury appeared to be hanging on to Garrett's every word. Then came Isa Brooks, the testimony that capped the third week. Brooks was sixteen years old, days before her seventeenth birthday when she says she and a school friend skipped their senior prom to go to a Hampton's party invited by a club promoter named Matt Lippman, who counted the Alexander Brothers among his clients. Party bus from Times Square to East Hampton Nightclub, then a rented mansion.

9:39 The next morning, Brooks noticed the house was emptier. Girls who'd been there the night before were gone. Lipmann told her they hadn't made the cut. They'd been sent away. Brooks, the sixteen year old, almost felt special to have been selected. Then she accepted a drink from a friend of the Alexanders while in a hot tub, started feeling woozy and limp headed inside. Tal allegedly followed her to a bedroom started kissing her. Her body felt heavy, heart fluttering, couldn't stand. Then Tal allegedly said five words that will stay with the jury. My brother is going to join us. Now, a lawn and two other men entered. What followed Brooks can only recall in flashes, men taking turns holding her down, raping her, saying degrading things. She told them to stop, too weak to fight back. I was terrified, Brooks told the court, through tears and increasing violence, both in what they were saying and how they were raping me. I was just wondering why it felt like they hated me.

10:42 She was sixteen years old. At a party she went to instead of prom being raped by multiple men while she could barely move. Eventually, she mustered enough strength to kick one of the men. He backed away a lawn and two others left. Tal stayed behind allegedly told her don't be mad at me. Don't be mad at me, after allegedly participating in the gang rape of a sixteen year old girl, don't be mad at me. Later that same evening, Brooks walked past a bedroom and saw a girl lying in a green bikini with a bunch of guys on top of her. Another woman, Avishon Bognude, who works at the United Nations, confronted the group, crying out I work for the UN and I know what you're doing or an Alexander allegedly slammed the door in her face.

11:29 Bog Nude testified separately, said she heard a woman screaming for help over and over, asking them to stop. Said the men moaned loudly over the woman's cries, while Bognude described those sex noises. The brother's father, Shlomy Alexander, appeared to be smirking in the gallery, smirking while a witness described his son's allegedly raping a screaming woman. Bognoud fled in a taxi that night, but before she left, she scrawled messages on the homes door and wall eyeliner rapists, you need to apologize. Photographs of that graffiti were recovered from Tal Alexander's hard drive and shown to the jury.

12:10 I hope that someday this could be used as evidence, boge Nude said tearfully. The defense pushed back. Cross examined Brooks about photos showing her celebrating her birthday days later, asked why she stayed overnight at another Hampton's home where Tal was present, why she didn't contact police, why she didn't tell her parents. I was scared to rock the boat, Brooks said, I was scared that I would get in trouble. She was sixteen, still in school, still a child. In twenty twenty, Brooks called East Hampton Police, an officer expressed frustration over gaps in her memory. She hung up, called the Manhattan DA's office, left a voicemail. Nobody called back.

12:55 She finally reported to the FBI in twenty twenty four, after reading about other women coming forward. I've been haunted by this for seventeen years, Brooks said, I am horrified that there have been others. And then there was the juror. Mid trial, Judge Caproni dismissed a male juror, who admitted he'd already decided on a verdict before the case was over, unclear which way he was leaning. The jury now stands at seven women and five men. Here's the pattern across three weeks of testimony. Women meet the brothers at clubs, parties, or through dating apps. They're invited to luxury destinations Hampton's mansions, Aspen ski trips, Bahama's cruises. They're offered drinks, they black out, they wake up being raped, or they don't wake up at all and find out later from video evidence. The brothers have pleaded not guilty to all charges. They've been held without bail since December twenty twenty four. Their parents sit in the gallery every day. Their pr strategist previously represented Harvey Weinstein. Their defense attorneys previously represented Diddy. If convicted, each brother faces fifteen years to life in prison. Trial resumes February twenty fourth. More witnesses expected, more evidence, More testimony from women who say three wealthy brothers used their money and status to turn luxury experiences into hunting grounds.

14:17 Make it make sense. We'll be right back with Mark Zuckerberg on the witness stand. Four million children under thirteen on Instagram, internal documents comparing the platform to a casino, and a judge threatening contempt over AI smartglasses in the courtroom. Welcome back to celebrity trials. I'm reed, Carter, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Superior Court, Wednesday, February eighteenth, twenty twenty six. Mark Zuckerberg walked through the front doors of the courthouse at eight thirty am, past a swarm of media, past parents holding photographs of children they say were killed by social media, Past families who had flown in from across the country and slept on the courthouse steps to guarantee a seat. Zuckerberg did not respond when a reporter asked what his message would be to those parents. This is the landmark trial experts are calling social media's Big Tobacco moment.

15:23 The question before the jury are social media platforms defective products? Engineered to exploit vulnerabilities in young people's brains. The plaintiff is a twenty year old woman identified only by her initials KGM. Her real first name is Kayley. She claims she started using YouTube at age six, Instagram at age nine. By age sixteen, she was spending more than sixteen hours a day on Instagram. She alleges the platforms addicted her, exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts, and destroyed her mental health, not by accident, by design deliberate choices made by companies that wanted children hook to boost profits. The lawsuit was originally filed against four companies Meta, Google's YouTube, TikTok and Snap.

16:10 TikTok and Snap settled before trial for undisclosed sums. Meta and YouTube are the remaining defendants. This is a Bellweather trial, meaning its outcome could determine how more than one thousand, five hundred similar lawsuits against social media companies play out. If Kayley wins, the floodgates open settlements, platform changes, potentially billions in damages. If the companies win, every other family suing faces an uphill battle. The stakes are enormous, and on Wednesday, the man who built the machine took the stand. Mark Zuckerberg, forty one years old, CEO and controlling shareholder of Meta Platforms net worth fluctuating somewhere north of two hundred billion dollars. The man who created Facebook in a Harvard dorm room and turned it into one of the most powerful companies in human history, who bought Instagram for one billion dollars in twenty twelve, who now oversees platforms used by billions of people worldwide, including millions of children.

17:11 He's testified before Congress, apologized to grieving parents at a Senate hearing, But Wednesday marked the first time Zuckerberg has ever answered questions about child safety in front of a jury and juries are different from congressional committees. Juries deliver verdicts, Juries award damages, Juries hold people accountable. Plaintiff's attorney, Mark Lanier came prepared. He'd already laid the groundwork in his opening statement, telling jurors the case was as easy as ABC standing for addicting the brains of children, called Meta and Google, two of the richest corporations in history that have engineered addiction in children's brains. Showed internal emails where a Meta employee said Instagram is like a drug and employees are basically pushers. Showed internal Google documents that compared some company products to a casino. On Wednesday, Lanier went after Zuckerberg on multiple fronts. First, underage users, Instagram requires you to be thirteen to create an account. That's the rule.

18:14 Here's the reality. Lanier presented an internal meta document from twenty fifteen that estimated over four million Instagram users were under thirteen, representing roughly thirty percent of all ten to twelve year olds in America, on a platform they weren't allowed to use. That meta knew about and did nothing meaningful to stop. Zuckerberg's response, some users lie about their age when signing up. He said, children under thirteen are not allowed on Instagram, but four million of them were there. The policy existed on paper, not in practice. Second engagement goals, Lanier cited a twenty fifteen email thread in which Zuckerberg appeared to highlight improving in g agement metrics as an urgent company priority. Evidence from Instagram chief Adam Mussi's testimony showed internal goals to push daily user engagement time to forty minutes in twenty twenty three and forty six minutes by twenty twenty six. More time on the app, more scrolling, more content, more addiction. Zuckerberg pushed back, said those were internal milestones used to measure against competitors, not evidence of trying to addict users. Said, if you do something that's not good for people, maybe they'll spend more time short term, but if they're not happy with it, they're not going to use it over time. That's the defense. We're not trying to hook children. We're trying to build a sustainable community.

19:45 If people don't like it, they'll leave, except children don't leave. That's the entire point. Children don't have the neurological development to recognize when something is exploiting them. Their brains are wired for social validation, for likes, for followers, for the dopamine hit of a notification. Instagram was designed to deliver all of that in an infinite scrollable, algorithmically curated feed that never ends. There is no bottom of the page, there is no You've seen everything, Just scroll, keep scrolling forever. Third beauty filters. Lanier pressed Zuckerberg on Instagram's cosmetic filters that altered people's appearance, filters that were temporarily shut down after concerns they were promoting unrealistic beauty standards and even plastic surgery. Zuckerberg said the company decided to allow them in support of free expression, but said Meta shouldn't create them ourselves or recommend them free expression. A beauty filter that makes a fourteen year old girl's face look like a cosmetic surgery. Advertisement is free expression? Got it? Then came the moment that crystallized the absurdity of it all.

20:57 A judge had to threaten contempt of court because someone on Zuckerberg's security detail was wearing Meta's RayBan Ai smart glasses, glasses that can record inside a courtroom where recording is prohibited. If you have done that, you must delete that or you will be held in contempt of the court. The judge said, this is very serious. The CEO of Meta showed up to defend his company against charges of harming children, and his team walked in wearing the company's own surveillance technology in a courtroom where it's illegal. You can't make this up. Last week, Instagram had Adam Mussi testified that he doesn't believe people can be clinically addicted to social media.

21:38 Said there's a difference between addiction and problematic use. Spending more time on Instagram than you feel good about, maintain that Instagram works hard to protect young users. Said it's not good for the company over the long run to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people's well being, not good for the company none, not good for children. Not good for the company. That tells you everything about how these executives think children's mental health is a business consideration, not a moral imperative. Meanwhile, Meta's own internal research tells a different story. A study called Project mist surveyed a thousand teens in their parents. Two major findings. First, children who experienced trauma and stress were particularly vulnerable to addiction. Second, parental supervision and controls made little impact. Meta knew the kids most likely to get hooked were the ones already suffering, and they knew parents couldn't stop it. A twenty twenty five study from Meta whistleblower Arturo Bihar found that two thirds of Meta's safety tools for teens were ineffective. Teen accounts still received recommendations for sexual content, nudity, and content about self harm and body image. The guardrails don't work. Meta knows the guard rails don't work, and they selling the same product Metta's defense strategy. This isn't about whether social media is good or bad. It's about whether Instagram was a substantial factor

23:10 in Kaylee's mental health struggles. They point to her medical records, turbulent home life, emotional abuse, body image issues, bullying, all pre dating her social media use. They argue she turned to Instagram as a coping mechanism, not that Instagram caused her problems. One of Kaylee's mental health providers said in a deposition that social media was not the through line of her main issues, that her struggles stemmed from interpersonal conflicts and relationships. That's the defense. She was already broken. We didn't break her. She came to us broken and used our product. That's not our fault. But here's what the plaintiff's lawyers argue. Meta knew vulnerable children were the most susceptible, knew their safety tools didn't work, knew four million kids under thirteen were on the platform, knew their algorith rhythms fed children content about self harm in eating disorders.

24:04 And they kept optimizing for engagement, kept designing features to maximize time spent, kept the infinite scroll going, kept the notifications pinging. Because every minute a child spends on Instagram as a minute, Meta can sell to advertisers. Matt Bergmann, whose law center represents over a thousand plaintiffs in similar suits, called Zuckerberg's testimony more than a legal milestone, said families have been waiting for this moment, waiting for the CEO to sit before a jury under oath and explain why the company released a product its own safety teams warned was addictive and harmful to children. Over forty state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta for harming young people.

24:46 A separate trial in New Mexico is already under way, accusing Meta of failing to prevent child sexual exploitation on its platforms. TikTok faces lawsuits in more than a dozen states. France banned social media for children under fear fifteen, Australia bannit for under sixteen. The world is waking up. The question is whether American courts will follow. This trial will last six to eight weeks. More executives will testify, Kayley will take the stand. Experts on both sides will argue about addiction, neuroscience, and corporate responsibility. The jury of twelve needs nine to agree. If they side with Kaylee, it changes everything. Social media companies would face the same kind of reckoning that Big Tobacco faced in the nineteen nineties.

25:30 Billions in damages, mandatory platform changes, marketing restrictions, age verification, requirements that actually work if they side with Meta, the message is clear. Tech companies can design addictive products target children, ignore their own safety research, and face no consequences. The call is coming from inside the house, and this time the house is worth one point six trillion dollars. Mark Zuckerberg walked out of that courtroom Wednesday. Parents held photos of dead children and watched him leave. He still didn't answer the question about what his message would be to them. Some questions answer themselves that celebrity trials For Friday, February twentieth, twenty twenty six, the Alexander Brothers sex trafficking trial is on a ten day break. After three weeks of devastating testimony.

26:30 Nine alleged victims described being drugged and raped. Texts showed the brothers boasting about hunting and ordering panti dropper pills. A juror was dismissed. Trial resumes February twenty fourth. Each brother faces fifteen years to life, and Mark Zuckerberg testified before a jury for the first time, Confronted with internal documents showing four million children under thirteen on Instagram, goals to increase daily engagement time. Safety tools that don't work a platform designed to hook the most vulnerable users. The trial that could be social media's big tobacco moment continues for six to eight more weeks. Power, wealth and the question of who pays when the powerful exploit the vulnerable.

27:18 I'm read Carter, see you tomorrow. This is celebrity trials.