United States v. Alexander, 25-222

Alon Alexander, Oren Alexander, and Tal Alexander, defendants, appealed a district court's denial of their pretrial release under the Bail Reform Act (BRA), 18 U.S.C. § 3142(e).
The court considered significant allegations against the defendants, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, with more than 40 women making allegations.
The government argued the defendants posed both a danger to the community and a substantial flight risk if released pretrial.
The district court found that proposed conditions, such as private security, would not assure either public safety or the defendants’ appearance at trial.
The appeal was brought before the Second Circuit, which reviewed the district court’s determination for clear error (facts) and de novo (questions of law).
The Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s order and denied all pretrial release requests.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Pretrial Detention under BRA	Defendants are dangerous & flight risk	Release with strict conditions possible	Detention affirmed; risk not mitigated
Danger to Community	Serious sex trafficking allegations	Defendants dispute level of danger	Record supports danger finding
Flight Risk	Strong evidence, risk of jail time	Private security can ensure appearance	Substantial flight risk if released
Appropriateness of Private Detention	Not sufficient for public safety	Wealth allows for strict private oversight	Private detention rejected as inadequate

United States v. English, 629 F.3d 311 (2d Cir. 2011) (sets standards for reviewing pretrial detention: clear error for facts, de novo for law)
United States v. Boustani, 932 F.3d 79 (2d Cir. 2019) (rejects private detention based on wealth as a solution to flight risk)