A retired Wall Street financier was taken into custody on Friday, accused of enticing numerous women, including former Playboy models, to endure sexual and physical abuse in his Central Park penthouse, which court documents refer to as “The Dungeon.”
Howard Rubin, age 70, was apprehended at his rental property in Fairfield, Connecticut, according to authorities. He entered a plea of not guilty in a Brooklyn federal court. Jennifer Powers, his former personal assistant, was likewise detained at her residence in Southlake, Texas, and is anticipated to appear in court in Texas this coming Monday, officials reported.
The once-wealthy financier was denied release despite his lawyers’ attempts to secure his freedom on a $25 million bond. Multiple attempts to reach Rubin and Powers’ attorneys for comments were made.
During a three-decade career, Rubin worked at various financial firms, including Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Soros Fund Management.
Prosecutors allege that between 2009 and 2019, Rubin, with Powers’ assistance, abused women after convincing them to travel to New York for sadomasochistic sexual activities with Rubin in exchange for financial compensation.
Rubin and Powers allegedly spent over $1 million recruiting women for paid sexual acts involving bondage and submission, some of whom were already victims of sexual abuse, faced financial difficulties, or struggled with addiction. Once in New York, the women were reportedly encouraged to consume drugs or alcohol to prepare for the encounters, with activities occasionally exceeding the boundaries of their consent, prosecutors claimed.
Prosecutors reported that women endured significant suffering during these encounters, including physical bruises and psychological harm, sometimes necessitating medical care.
Prior to 2011, the commercial acts usually occurred at luxury hotels in Manhattan, but from 2011 to 2017, the encounters usually occurred in a two-bedroom penthouse near Central Park, prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
The penthouse contained “The Dungeon,” a soundproofed room painted red that had a lock on the door and was outfitted with bondage and discipline instruments, prosecutors said.
They said Powers maintained the dungeon, cleaned it between uses and restocked the equipment, while also recruiting women, arranging their flights and managing fallout from complaints about the sessions with Rubin.
Rubin and Powers required the women to sign nondisclosure agreements and pledge that they were not under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they signed the agreements, prosecutors said.
According to court papers, Rubin has funded virtually all aspects of Powers and her family’s lifestyle since 2012, including rent on their Manhattan apartment; her children’s private school tuition; and the down payment and mortgage on their Texas-based home after the Powers moved to Texas in 2020.
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 currently appealing the verdict.
If convicted of all charges, Rubin and Powers each face a sentence of at least 15 years in prison.
__
This story corrects that Rubin was found liable in a 2017 sex trafficking case. Only Powers was found not liable in that case.
