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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has defended his failed attempt last week to impose military rule on the country as the leader of his party signals it is preparing to support his impeachment on Saturday.

In only his second public appearance since his doomed martial law gambit, Yoon on Thursday morning lashed out at critics, calling them “anti-state forces”, and suggested North Korea had helped leftwing opposition parties secure victory in parliamentary elections.

“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralysing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.

His defiance followed a speech by Han Dong-hoon, the leader of Yoon’s conservative People Power party, who said the president had not abided by an agreement to transfer decision-making over state affairs to his cabinet, leaving impeachment as the only means to protect the country’s democracy.

“We have tried to look for other options that reduce uncertainties that may be tied with impeachment, but the [basis] for that was that the president agree to early resignation from office,” Han told reporters. “But as the president has no intention to do so, other options are not viable.”

Han’s announcement suggests the president’s political fate could be resolved within days, following a week of turmoil during which neither the government, the party nor the presidential office could confirm who was in charge of the country.

Eight out of 108 People Power lawmakers must vote for an impeachment motion if the National Assembly is to secure the required two-thirds majority for it to pass. The party boycotted an impeachment vote last week, but a second vote is expected to be scheduled for Saturday.

“Impeachment is now inevitable,” said Kang Won-taek, a professor of political science at Seoul National University. “It is not that the [People Power party] never wanted to impeach him [in principle], but last week was too early for them to take a decision when there was still little information available as to his motives.

“But now there is growing evidence, including this public address, that the president really did do this out of his own conviction,” said Kang.

Yoon, who is subject to a travel ban as he is investigated on insurrection charges, said his martial law order had been an administrative decision that could not be scrutinised by law enforcement agencies.

The president also said that on the night of his martial law decree, he had dispatched troops to the country’s electoral commission to inspect its systems for signs that North Korean hackers had manipulated April parliamentary elections in which opposition parties triumphed.

Yoon’s defiant appearance comes after senior military commanders told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that on the night of the martial law attempt, the president had issued direct orders for lawmakers to be physically prevented from voting to reject his decree.

Special forces commander Lieutenant General Kwak Jong-geun testified that Yoon had told him to “break open the door and drag lawmakers out” because “they have not reached a quorum yet.”

If an impeachment motion is passed, it must then be approved by the country’s Constitutional Court. In the meantime, the president is suspended from duties, and authority is passed to the prime minister on an interim basis.

The court is supposed to deliver its verdict within 180 days of the parliamentary vote, but this time limit is not binding.

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The $4tn private equity industry has struck its first two deals to buy stakes in National Football League teams as Wall Street’s most powerful funds eye long-term investments in the world’s most profitable sports league.

Ares Management on Wednesday acquired a 10 per cent stake in the NFL’s Miami Dolphins franchise. Arctos, a sports-focused private equity investor, led a group that purchased a minority equity stake in the Buffalo Bills, based in upstate New York and owned by oil billionaire Terry Pegula, father of US tennis star Jessica Pegula.

The NFL approved the two deals at its owners’ meeting in Dallas, ushering in a new era when Wall Street investment funds will be allowed to own direct stakes in popular and valuable US football teams.

The deals are the first in what investors expect will be a torrent of similar minority investments in the coming years, after NFL owners approved major changes to ownership rules in August and permitted private equity groups to invest in teams.

Ares, which manages nearly $500bn in assets, is buying its minority stake from Dolphins owner and billionaire real estate mogul Stephen Ross at a valuation of $8.1bn, said people briefed on the deal.

In addition to a stake in the football team, Ares and other investors in the group — including Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai — will own minority stakes in the Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and the Formula One Miami Grand Prix.

Finance firms have long hoped to invest in the NFL. “It’s the most valuable global sports property from an economic standpoint,” said one prominent dealmaker, who also noted investors have been drawn to the consistency of team profits and the belief new revenue streams will generate rising cash flows to ownership groups.

NFL teams also carry unleveraged balance sheets, making the investments recession-resistant. “The cap tables are not what we are used to seeing in a traditional leveraged buyout,” said another dealmaker. Team values are priced at multiples of about nine to 12 times revenues, said people familiar with the matter, who noted those can go higher or lower depending on whether a team owns their stadium.

Buying an NFL franchise outright is beyond even some of the world’s richest people, as valuations have soared. That has strengthened the case for allowing buyout firms to enter the ownership ecosystem to smooth the sales process for existing owners and facilitate liquidity.

The average NFL team was worth roughly $5.9bn in Sportico’s valuations report in August, an increase of more than 15 per cent on last year, bolstered by the league’s domestic media rights, which are worth $110bn over the 11 years through 2033.

Arctos and Ares have a long record of investing in sports teams around the globe.

Dallas-based Arctos has minority stakes in several baseball teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants, and basketball franchises such as the Utah Jazz. Last year the firm acquired stakes in the Qatari-owned football team Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Martin F1. The firm’s co-founder Ian Charles told the Financial Times earlier this year it planned to focus future investment in North America after it raised a new $4.1bn fund in April.

Ares, which specialises in credit, has completed deals with several football teams including Chelsea, Olympique Lyonnais and Inter Miami. In 2022, it raised $3.7bn for a fund dedicated to sport and media investments. It has also backed the McLaren Racing F1 team.

Ares and Arctos were among a small group of private equity firms the NFL approved as potential buyers. The others were Sixth Street and a consortium made up of Blackstone, Carlyle, CVC, Dynasty Equity and Ludis.

The NFL stipulated that firms are only permitted to buy up to 10 per cent of any individual team, and blocked so-called preferred equity deals that give certain shareholders superior rights such as first dibs on dividends.

The FBI arrested a trio of high-profile Florida brothers in Miami on Wednesday amid sex trafficking allegations.

Twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 37, and their 38-year-old brother Tal Alexander, are all charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, and sex trafficking by force, cause or coercion.

Tal Alexander is additionally charged with a second count of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion.

Alon and Oren Alexander are being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, according to online records. Tal Alexander does not appear in a Miami-Dade County inmate search.

Prosecutors claim the brothers, for over a decade, together and separately drugged, sexually assaulted, and raped dozens of victims.

An unsealed federal indictment in Manhattan accuses the three men of luring women with promises of luxury experiences and then forcibly raping or sexually assaulting them, sometimes by multiple men.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said in a news release Wednesday, “The charges outlined in this indictment reflect some of the most heinous and dehumanizing crimes of sexual exploitation that our NYPD detectives investigate.”

The criminal charges follow a string of civil lawsuits against the brothers alleging rape and sexual assault.

“We are glad to hear that there will finally be some measure of accountability for the Alexander brothers and justice for their many victims,” law firm Wigdor LLP, which represents several women who’ve accused the Alexanders of rape, said in a statement to USA Today. “We applaud all the survivors who have had the strength and courage to speak up about their unimaginable experiences after years of pain and suffering.”

Newsweek has contacted a lawyer for Alon Alexander by email for comment.

Who is Alon Alexander?

Alon Alexander, one of the twins, served as president of Kent Security, the Alexander parents’ private security firm since 2009, but his name is no longer listed on its website.

Newsweek has contacted Kent Security by email for comment.

The bio of a LinkedIn profile appearing to belong to Alon Alexander says he is an “Experienced President with a demonstrated history of working in the facilities services industry” skilled in “negotiation, operations management, customer relationship management (CRM), team building, and management.”

Alon Alexander graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, pre-law, and from New York Law School in 2012, according to LinkedIn.

Who are Tal and Oren Alexander?

Oren and Tal Alexander co-founded the luxury real estate firm Official, which specializes in high-end properties in cities like NYC, Miami, and Los Angeles with billionaire clients.

The bio of a LinkedIn profile appearing to belong to Tal Alexander reads, “Tal and his brother Oren co-run one of the leading real estate teams in the country. They have sold close to one billion in luxury residential real estate sales throughout the United States and specialize in the New York City, Hamptons, and Florida markets.”

“The Alexander Team is consistently ranked among the absolute top real estate producers in the country. The brothers are supported by a team of 11 professionals and have an unprecedented reputation for a relentless work ethic and a culture of service and success,” it continues.

Oren and Tal Alexander were also profiled in a September 2013 story in Details magazine titled “Meet the New Rock Stars of Real Estate.”

“Broker brothers Tal and Oren Alexander set a record last August for the most expensive house sale in Miami-Dade County history with this 30,000-square-foot residence—developed by their dad—on the exclusive magnate retreat of Indian Creek Island,” the article captioned a photo of the luxury mansion.

Newsweek has contacted Official by email for comment.

Why were Tal, Alon, and Oren Alexander arrested?

Tal, Alon, and Oren Alexander were arrested in Florida on Wednesday for allegedly operating a “long-running sex trafficking scheme” since 2010. Prosecutors claim the brothers used “deception, fraud, and coercion,” leveraging their wealth to entice women to parties, events, and trips, where they were subsequently assaulted.

What did the civil lawsuits allege?

Law enforcement has interviewed numerous women who report being sexually assaulted by the Alexander brothers, including some who claim they were raped by the brothers while in high school in Miami in the early 2000s, CNN reports.

All three brothers face charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking in connection with a 2016 case. The victim alleges that after meeting the twins on a dating app, they flew her and a friend to New York, where Oren drugged and raped her.

Evidence from Oren’s iCloud shows discussions about an “orgy” and plans for future trips, including one to Tulum, Mexico, where they discussed “importing” women, providing drugs, and arranging sexual encounters.

Tal Alexander is separately charged with sex trafficking a second victim in July 2011 in the Hamptons.

Prosecutors allege he and another man picked up the victim and her friend, gave her wine that made her feel unwell, and then assaulted her while recording the incident. The victim later woke up outside the house.

Tal and Oren Alexander are also accused of filing false police reports and threatening defamation lawsuits to silence allegations of sexual assault.

A 2012 case alleges Alon and Tal raped a woman in an assault reportedly planned by Oren.

Their representatives have denied the allegations.

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