In the federal trial of the Alexander brothers, Count 2 is different from every other charge in the indictment. It is the only count brought solely against Tal Alexander, and it centers on one accuser’s description of a single weekend in the Hamptons nearly fifteen years ago. There is no physical evidence backing it up. No medical records. No police report from the time. No independent witness who can place Tal at the location of the alleged assault. The government’s case on this count rests entirely on Lindsey Acree, and the testimony presented at trial has raised serious questions about whether her account can support a criminal conviction.
As the evidence has unfolded, this has become more than a simple credibility contest between a defendant and an accuser. Key details in Acree’s story have shifted in ways that align with information introduced by the defense rather than with a consistent recollection of events. Documentary evidence has also called into question whether Tal Alexander even had access to the property on the date alleged. On the record, the judge described the witness’s testimony as “somewhat all over the place.” Count 2 has not just been disputed. The foundation of the charge has been severely undermined.
What Acree Said on Direct
To understand the extent of the problems with Count 2, it helps to lay out exactly what Lindsey Acree told the jury on direct examination. Assistant US Attorney Andrew Jones walked her step by step through her account of Memorial Day weekend 2011, and in broad outline, this was her testimony.
Acree said she was 25 years old at the time and living near Union Square in Manhattan with three roommates: Julia, Amanda, and Rachel. She described 2011 as “the time of my life,” a tight circle of friends going out together, hosting dinners, and spending weekends in the Hamptons. She testified that a woman named Hana Boulos, who had recently entered her social circle, invited her to spend Memorial Day weekend at her “guy friends from Miami’s house” in the Hamptons. According to Acree, Hana mentioned the name Tal, which she said stuck in her mind because she had only known women with that name.
She and Hana took the train, which she believed was on Saturday, and got off at the East Hampton station. Two men were waiting for them: Tal Alexander and another man whose name she said she did not know. Tal drove them to the house. During the ride, Acree testified that the name Oren came up. When she asked Tal if he knew Oren Alexander, she said he looked at her through the rearview mirror and said no, a reaction she described as uncomfortable.
She described the house as a single level structure with a kitchen, bedrooms off to the side with glass doors, a rectangular pool and hot tub in the backyard, and a sauna and gym downstairs. She said they arrived in the late afternoon and that the house was quiet, with no music or party underway. She briefly saw a couple in the kitchen who left without speaking to them.
Jones then walked her through what happened next. The four of them went to the hot tub. At some point, Hana and the second man left, and Acree remained with Tal. She testified that she drank less than a full glass of wine, describing it as “three sips, half glass,” before Tal suggested they go to the sauna. By the time she stepped out of the hot tub, she said her body felt heavy and slow, “zombie-like,” and that she followed Tal in what felt like slow motion.
Inside the sauna, she said they were alone at first. She testified that she thought he might kiss her, but instead he grabbed the back of her neck and pinned her down on the bench. She told the jury she did not know how to respond and described her memory as fragmented, “a flip book with big pages missing out of it.”
She said the second man entered the sauna casually. She described feeling dread and testified that she was then led from the sauna into the adjacent gym, the other man guiding her while Tal followed behind. In the gym, she said she was too weak to lift weights the second man handed her and collapsed. She testified that both men were present, that Tal left and returned with a tripod, and that she remembered the straps of her bikini being pulled off and her body being moved. She described someone behind her and Tal in front of her, and said the men were laughing.
