Howard Rubin Arraigned on Sex Trafficking, Fraud
Howard Rubin Arraigned on Sex Trafficking, Fraud

Howard Rubin Arraigned on Sex Trafficking, Fraud

News summary

Retired financier Howard Rubin, 70, and his former personal assistant Jennifer Powers, 45, were arrested and federally indicted on charges including sex trafficking, transporting women in interstate commerce for prostitution and bank fraud after prosecutors say they ran a yearslong scheme that recruited women to New York for paid BDSM encounters. Federal filings allege Rubin converted a Manhattan penthouse bedroom into a soundproof “sex dungeon” stocked with BDSM equipment, including an electrocution device, and ignored safe words while inflicting violent, nonconsensual abuse that in at least one case required surgery. Powers is accused of recruiting women (including former Playboy models), arranging travel and nondisclosure agreements, buying equipment and administering payments; prosecutors say the pair spent more than $1 million to finance the operation. The indictment covers conduct from about 2009 to 2019 and references allegations from multiple victims (federal filings cite at least nine), following prior civil litigation that resulted in a multimillion‑dollar judgment. Rubin was arraigned, pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without release by a magistrate who cited public-safety and flight-risk concerns; the defendants face potential penalties ranging from years to life on the trafficking counts and up to decades for the bank‑fraud charge, and U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella and FBI officials urged other potential victims to come forward as the probe continues.

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