Under Australian law, coronial investigations are typically opened when there is uncertainty about whether a death resulted from natural causes, the Times said.
New South Wales police declined to comment, referring inquiries to the coroner’s office.
Whiteman, 45, filed a civil lawsuit in March 2024 accusing the Alexander brothers of sexually assaulting her more than a decade earlier.
In court filings, she said she met the brothers at a Manhattan nightclub in 2012 and was forced into a sport utility vehicle as she was leaving. She alleged they drove her to a Hamptons estate where she was assaulted.
One day after Whiteman’s lawsuit was filed, a second woman, Rebecca Mandel, brought similar claims against the brothers in a separate civil suit. Mandel alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted at a Manhattan party in 2010.
The Alexanders have denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
In November, a federal judge rejected an effort to dismiss sex trafficking charges — clearing the way for the brothers’ January trial.
New charge against brothers
The Alexander brothers pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a new charge added to a sweeping federal indictment just before their sex trafficking trial is set to begin.
Oren and Alon Alexander were charged with sexual abuse by physical incapacitation under a superseding indictment filed Monday in federal court, NBC News reported.
Prosecutors allege the twins engaged in a sexual act with a woman in January 2012 while she was unable to decline participation aboard a Bahamian-flagged cruise ship that departed from and returned to the United States.
The new count was added to an 11-count indictment charging Oren and Alon and their brother — Tal Alexander — with conspiring for more than a decade to drug, sexually assault and rape dozens of women in Miami, New York, the Hamptons and other upscale locations.
All three brothers remain in custody in New York City leading up to scheduled trial start date of Jan. 26.
