A Connecticut man known as a retired former financier is among two people indicted for allegedly running a commercial sex operation in New York, using his wealth to mislead women and recruit them to his “sex dungeon” where he allegedly tortured them “beyond their consent” and kept them quiet through threats of legal action or public shaming if they violated terms of the non-disclosure agreements they had signed.
The 10-count indictment, which was unsealed, charges 70-year-old Howard Rubin of Fairfield, also known as “Howie” and “H,” and his personal assistant, 45-year-old Jennifer Powers of Southlake, Texas with sex trafficking and transporting women in interstate commerce for sex acts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Rubin, who was also charged with bank fraud, was arrested Friday morning in Fairfield and was expected to be arraigned later in the day in federal court in Brooklyn, officials said. Powers was arrested Friday and is expected to appear on Monday in federal court in the Northern District of Texas.
“As alleged, the defendants used Rubin’s wealth to mislead and recruit women to engage in commercial sex acts, where Rubin then tortured women beyond their consent, causing lasting physical and/or psychological pain, and in some cases physical injuries,” U.S. States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella, Jr., said in a statement.
Federal authorities allege that Rubin — who reportedly built his wealth in New York City working in finance — hired Powers as his personal assistant around 2011 and had her manage the “logistical aspects” of the commercial sex operation. Between 2009 and 2019, the indictment states, Rubin and Powers allegedly recruited multiple women to travel to New York City to engage in commercial sex acts with Rubin “involving bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sadomasochism, referred to as ‘BDSM’ sex.” Authorities allege that some of the women were trafficked.
According to the indictment, the commercial sex acts allegedly initially took place in luxury hotels and were later moved into Rubin’s two-bedroom penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan where he and Powers allegedly converted one of the bedrooms into what they referred to as a “sex dungeon.” The sex room was reportedly painted red, soundproofed and furnished with BDSM equipment and devices, including a device to shock or electrocute the women, the indictment alleges.
At one point, federal officials allege, Rubin also used “force, fraud and coercion to traffic” another woman in 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
According to the indictment, Rubin and Powers both allegedly recruited the women, with Powers frequently arranging their flights to one of two airports in New York before they were transported to the “Penthouse.” Authorities allege that in “many of these encounters, Rubin brutalized women’s bodies, causing them to fear for their safety” and leaving them in significant pain.
Rubin and Powers reportedly had the women sign non-disclosure agreements, which purported to “require the women to assume the risk of the hazards and injury” involved in the incidents and stopped them from disclosing what had happened, federal officials said. In addition to purportedly requiring the payment of damages if the NDAs were breached, authorities allege Rubin used the agreements to threaten the victims with legal consequences and “public shaming if they sought legal recourse.”
According to the indictment, Rubin and Powers would allegedly pay the women through wire transfers or services like PayPal or Venmo and would sometimes structure the payments to avoid sending a single transaction of $10,000 or more to avoid triggering reporting obligations by the bank. The indictment alleges Rubin spent at least $1 million “operating and maintaining the trafficking network.”
“For many years, Howard Rubin and Jennifer Powers allegedly spent at least $1 million to finance the commercial sexual torture of multiple women via a national trafficking network,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia said in a statement. “The defendants allegedly exploited Rubin’s status to ensnare their prospective victims and forced them to endure unthinkable physical trauma before silencing any outcries with threats of legal recourse,”
Officials also allege Rubin, while embroiled in civil litigation related to the sexual encounters, falsely told a bank that he was not a party to litigation to secure a mortgage for Powers’ Texas home, which he financed.
The “arrests show that no one who engages in sex trafficking, in this case in luxury hotels and a penthouse apartment that featured a so-called sex ‘dungeon,’ is above the law, and that they will be brought to justice,” Nocella said. “Human beings are not chattel to be exploited for sex and sadistically abused, and anyone who thinks otherwise can expect to find themselves in handcuffs and facing federal prosecution like these defendants.”
“It’s alleged Rubin directed a sex trafficking enterprise, exploiting women who were transported from across the country to his Manhattan penthouse that was equipped with a soundproof sex room filled with BDSM equipment, including a device used to shock the women,” Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Services Criminal Investigation Harry T. Chavis, Jr., said in a statement. “This was not a one-man show. While Rubin dehumanized these women with abhorrent sexual acts, Powers is alleged to have run the day-to-day operations of the enterprise and got paid generously for her efforts.”
Anyone who believes they were victimized by Rubin or Powers — or those with information — have been asked to contact the FBI at HowardRubinVictims@FBI.gov or 212-384-3600.