An Australian woman who accused a pair of playboy twin brothers of sexually assaulting her at a party mansion in the Hamptons has been found dead in unexplained circumstances.
Kate Whiteman was found dead in Sydney late last year.
The 45-year-old woman's cause of death remains unclear.
A spokesperson for the NSW coroner said an investigation had been launched because there are questions over whether Whiteman died of natural causes.
Whiteman sued famous realtor Oren Alexander and his twin Alon in March 2024. She claims she met the siblings in New York City in 2012 and traveled with them to a mansion designed to look like a castle in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island after a night out.
Whiteman says she was sexually assaulted by the pair after arriving at the castle.
Oren, Alon and their brother Tal all remain in custody and face multiple rape and sex trafficking charges spanning more than a decade. They deny the allegations made against them.
Before their arrest in December 2024, Oren and Tal were well-known luxury real estate agents, while Alon worked at a private security company owned by his family.
Identical twins Alon and Oren Alexander are pictured in July 2015
Kate Whiteman, a socialite who accused the pair of playboy twin brothers of sexually assaulting her at a 'castle' in the Hamptons, has been found dead in unexplained circumstances
Ms Whiteman (pictured) was found dead in Sydney
The Alexander twins, 36, were accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a woman together in 2012 at Sir Ivan Wilzig's castle in the Hamptons (pictured) - which they deny
A spokesperson for the brothers told The Daily Mail that they were unaware of Whitman's death until it was reported in the media on Thursday.
'Her attorney and the federal prosecutors were in court with us earlier this week and made no mention of it, perhaps because Ms. Whiteman was never part of the federal prosecution,' the rep said.
'The decision to release this information publicly on the eve of trial invites obvious questions.'
In July 2025, court documents exclusively revealed by the Daily Mail showed Whiteman continued to send the brothers sexually explicit messages and invited herself to their social events for over a year after she alleged they attacked her.
Allegations against the playboy twins Alon and Oren Alexander were sparked in 2024 in a civil lawsuit brought by Whiteman, alleging that they raped her at 'Sir Ivan's Castle,' a mansion owned by recording artist and songwriter Ivan Wilzig, in the Hamptons in 2012.
Her claim triggered a wave of subsequent allegations from dozens of other women, and the brothers were arrested in June 2024 and remain in custody in New York. They have maintained their innocence.
Federal prosecutors say they have spoken to at least 60 women who claim to be victims of at least one of the Alexander brothers.
In a motion to dismiss Whiteman's claims obtained by the Daily Mail last year, it was alleged that messages Whiteman sent to the brothers after the alleged attack undercut her allegations. Her attorneys disputed this.
Court documents showed that Whiteman allegedly sent a slew of explicit messages, erotic photos and social invites to the Alexander brothers for over a year and a half after the alleged rape.
Alon and Oren Alexander at Sir Ivan's Medieval Madness Birthday Bash For Model Mina Otsuka in 2011
Oren (right) is pictured with fashion designers Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo in 2017
She claimed in her original lawsuit that she was 'terrified' of the brothers and was 'so distraught after' that 'for months, she stayed in bed and very rarely left her home due to extreme depression, anxiety and fear for her own safety.'
But the motion to dismiss the lawsuit claims that just one month after the alleged rape, Whiteman wished Oren a happy birthday and asked if she could bring two female friends to his party. And, one year after the alleged assault, Whiteman asked the brothers to return to 'Sir Ivan's Castle.'
Whiteman's attorneys filed a memorandum in opposition of the Alexanders' motion to dismiss, in which they accuse the brothers of 'cherry-picking' the messages from Whiteman.
Whiteman alleged in her initial civil complaint that the rape unfolded on Memorial Day Weekend in 2012, and claimed that Alon grabbed her as she was leaving a nightclub and forced her into a waiting SUV with Oren.
In her complaint, she said she was driven to 'Sir Ivan's Castle' where she claimed she was prevented from running away by a security guard, had her phone taken away and was forced to strip.
They then took her to a large bedroom where she was 'sexually assaulted, abused, raped, pinned, groped, harassed, battered, and fondled by defendants Alon and Oren,' according to her complaint.
But the motion to dismiss claims that in the months after, it was Whiteman who continually reached out to the brothers with explicit images of herself and invites to social events.
The Alexanders' motion to dismiss included messages sent 10 months after the alleged rape. In one, Whiteman sent Oren nude images of herself and said it would be 'fun to get over' her recent breakup if he came over to her apartment in Manhattan's East Village, according to the filing.
The Alexanders' lucrative real estate careers were upended after dozens of women accused the brothers of sexual assault.
The brothers were once famed realtors with the renowned Douglas Elliman real estate firm and were often spotted rubbing shoulders with high-profile socialites.
The brothers (pictured Tal far left, Oren second left, Alon far right) come from a well-known real estate family in Miami. Their father is top Florida developer Shlomi Alexander (pictured center right alongside businessman Howard Lorber)
They made their name selling what was at the time America's most expensive property ever, a $238 million penthouse overlooking Central Park in 2019.
Alon and Oren, along with their older brother Tal, were arrested in December 2024 and were charged with orchestrating a sex trafficking scheme for over a decade, according to the federal indictment.
The brothers have been accused of working together and with others to drug, sexually assault and rape dozens of women. Federal prosecutors say they have spoken to at least 60 women who claim to be victims of at least one of the Alexander brothers.
The Alexanders have also been accused of using deception, fraud and coercion to lure victims to private locations for trips or events, where the brothers allegedly raped and sexually assaulted them, per the indictment. It is alleged that they used drugs to impair their victims, which prevented the victims from providing consent or fighting back.
In addition to federal charges, the Alexander brothers - who are currently awaiting their 2026 trial behind bars without bail at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center - also face multiple sexual assault lawsuits across multiple states.
They have maintained their innocence, pleading not guilty to criminal charges and denying liability in the civil cases.