Featured Image Credit: JONATHON ZIEGLER/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Topics: Sex Trafficking, New York, Crime, US News, Money
Ellie Kemp
Topics: Sex Trafficking, New York, Crime, US News, Money
Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing
A retired New York financier and his assistant have been arrested for allegedly running a decade-long sex trafficking ring.
Howard Rubin, a former investment banker, and his assistant Jennifer Powers were arrested on Friday (September 26) after being indicted in Brooklyn federal court.
Charges include sex trafficking, transporting women across state lines for sex acts and, for Rubin, bank fraud.
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Rubin, now aged 70 and retired, built his wealth in New York City working in finance, including for Soros Fund Management.
Powers, a former substitute teacher, became his personal assistant around 2011 and is accused of managing the logistical aspects of their sex operation.
Between 2009 and 2019, the duo allegedly recruited women - including Playboy models - under false pretences, flew them to New York City and forced them into non-consensual sex acts.
The women were allegedly taken to luxury hotels or Rubin’s penthouse 'sex dungeon,' which was said to be soundproof, painted red, and equipped with BDSM restraints and devices - including an electrocution machine used to electrocute women's genitals.
Joseph Nocella, United States Attorney, said, as per the allegations, the pair used Rubin’s wealth 'to mislead and recruit women to engage in commercial sex acts, 'where Rubin then tortured women 'beyond their consent.'
This caused 'lasting physical and psychological pain, and in some cases physical injuries'.
Women are said to have also been made to sign an NDA and threatened with legal action should they break it.
At least $1 million was spent on flights, payouts, and maintaining the operation.
These payments were allegedly made via wire transfer, PayPal, or Venmo, strategically in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid bank reporting rules.
Rubin also allegedly trafficked a woman in Las Vegas in 2018, using 'force, fraud and coercion'.
While he was already being sued, Rubin lied to a bank by claiming he wasn’t involved in any lawsuits. This was so the bank would approve a mortgage for his Powers’s Texas home, which he was helping to pay for.
Under the sex-trafficking indictment, Rubin faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted. It carries a maximum life sentence.
Additionally, bank fraud carries a separate maximum sentence of up to 30 years.
Some of the alleged victims sued Rubin and Powers in 2017. A jury found at trial that only Rubin was liable and awarded the women $3.9 million.
He is appealing the verdict.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org