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A former portfolio manager from the Soros Fund Management has been charged with enticing women, including ex-Playboy models, to his penthouse in Manhattan, which had a soundproof room dubbed a “dungeon.” Prosecutors claim he inflicted violent sexual abuse on them.
Howard Rubin, aged 70, known as “Howie” and “H,” a retired financier from New York, has been charged along with Jennifer Powers, 45, his longtime assistant, on federal sex trafficking and bank fraud counts.
According to prosecutors, from at least 2009 to 2019, Rubin operated a broad network to recruit women for sexual activities in exchange for money, often using force, deception, and coercion.
Howard Rubin, a retired financier from New York, has been charged with his longtime assistant for their alleged involvement in a federal sex trafficking and bank fraud case. Prosecutors contend that he orchestrated a trafficking operation, abusing women in a Manhattan apartment set up as a “sex dungeon.”
Rubin had a three-decade career at financial institutions like Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, and Soros Fund Management. He served from 2008 to 2015 as a portfolio manager, handling mortgage-backed securities, with no evidence of personal ties to George Soros, the noted financier and philanthropist.
Currently retired, Rubin accumulated his wealth in New York City, where Powers, who took on the role of his personal assistant in 2011, oversaw the logistics of their commercial sex operation, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Rubin, with the help of Powers, abused the women after recruiting them to fly to New York to engage in sadomasochistic sex acts with Rubin in exchange for money.
The sex acts initially took place in luxury hotels, prosecutors allege, and then later in Rubin’s two-bedroom penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan. It was there Rubin and Powers converted one of the bedrooms into what they referred to as a sex “dungeon” that was painted red, soundproofed and furnished with BDSM equipment and devices, including a device to shock or electrocute the women, prosecutors said.
Howard Rubin’s Manhattan penthouse, located near Central Park, was allegedly converted into a soundproof “dungeon” where prosecutors say women endured violent abuse. (Thomas Koehler/Photothek via Getty Images)
The women included victims who had previously been sexually abused, were financially desperate or who suffered from addiction. Once they were in New York, the women were encouraged to use drugs or alcohol to prepare for their sexual encounters, and they sometimes engaged in conduct beyond the scope of their consent, prosecutors said.
During the encounters, the women suffered significant pain, including bruises and psychological trauma, and sometimes required medical treatment, according to prosecutors.
After the sexual encounters, Rubin’s money was used to pay the women by wire transfer or a payment service such as PayPal or Venmo. Powers at times structured the payments to avoid sending a single transaction of $10,000 or more to avoid triggering reporting obligations by the bank.
If convicted of sex trafficking, the pair each face a minimum of 15 years to life in prison.
Rubin faces up to 30 years for bank fraud after he allegedly lied on mortgage paperwork to help Powers buy a Texas home, falsely claiming he wasn’t involved in any lawsuits.
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.
