There is something strange happening in the skies above New Jersey, and no one seems quite sure what to make of it — not the governor, not members of Congress, not the FBI.

What they know is that starting in mid-November, dozens of identified drones have been spotted at night flying in at least 10 different counties across the state. What they don’t know is where the drones are coming from, who’s flying them and why.

The drones have been spotted above critical infrastructure, according to authorities, including reservoirs, electric transmission lines, rail stations, police departments and military installations.

A U.S. Army base in northern Morris County has already had at least 11 sightings, Army officials said this week, several of which came even after the Federal Aviation Administration moved to temporarily restrict drones from flying overhead. In neighboring Somerset County, the FAA has also banned drones from flying over the golf course owned by President-elect Donald Trump.

It’s not illegal to fly a drone in New Jersey, so long as the operator is certified with the FAA. Small unregistered drones being used for recreation can be flown in unrestricted areas.

But the number and mysterious nature of the sightings have left many Garden State residents on edge. So too has their size, as many of the drones appear to be larger than those that are typically used by hobbyists.

The office of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy did not respond to a request for comment, but speaking at an unrelated bill signing earlier this week, Murphy said there had been 49 sightings on Sunday alone — though several of those may have been duplicates or merely possible sightings.

In a posting on social media last week, Murphy said state officials were “actively monitoring the situation and in close coordination with our federal and law enforcement partners.”

“There is no known threat to the public at this time,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s assurances have done little to quiet the concerns of residents and other officials across the state. In a statement posted to Facebook last week, the police chief of Florham Park, N.J., said “their presence appears nefarious in nature.” And during a House hearing on Monday focused on unmanned aerial systems, N.J. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican, said he thought the drones were a “very serious threat.”

Given the alarm the drones have caused, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in a statement Monday that he was calling for more transparency from federal officials.

“There is a growing sense of uncertainty and urgency across the state — from constituents and local officials alike — despite assurances that the drones pose no known threats to public safety,” Booker wrote in a letter to leaders at the FBI, and the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security.

“As such, I urge you to share any relevant information about these drone sightings with the public. Without transparency, I believe that rumors, fear, and misinformation will continue to spread,” he added.

So far at least one theory has been ruled out — that the drones were coming from the Picatinny Arsenal military research base in Morris County. In a statement obtained by the Morristown Daily Record on Monday, base commander Lt. Col. Craig Bonham II said the drones were not theirs.

“While the source and cause of these aircraft operating in our area remain unknown, we can confirm that they are not the result of any Picatinny Arsenal-related activities,” Bonham said.

The FBI has opened an investigation, but bureau officials say key questions remain unresolved.

Speaking to House lawmakers Monday, Robert Wheeler, the assistant director for the bureau’s critical incident response group, said the FBI still did not know whether a specific individual was responsible for the flights or whether they were the work of a larger group. Wheeler also could not definitively rule out the possibility that the drones may pose a risk to public safety or national security.

“There’s nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don’t know, and that’s the concerning part,” Wheeler said.

In a statement, the FBI said it “remains engaged with our federal, state, local, and tribal partners to share information and protect the public.” It added that any drones “that pose a danger to any aircraft or are observed operating in restricted airspace or near critical infrastructure and other sensitive sites, can be reported to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or online at tips.fbi.gov.”

Unidentified drones have puzzled the public before. Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported about unidentified drones swarming Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days. As with the drones over New Jersey, those flights called to memory the Chinese spy balloon that the U.S. military shot down over the coast of South Carolina in 2023.

The flights over New Jersey have led to calls for the military to shoot down the unidentified drones, but under federal law the military is largely prohibited from doing so unless the drone poses an imminent threat. It is also illegal for individuals to shoot down any aircraft — including drones.

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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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