Financier Howard Rubin charged with sex trafficking

Famed retired money manager Howard Rubin and his former personal assistant were arrested Friday morning on charges of sex trafficking and transporting women across state lines for commercial sex acts over the course of a decade.

Rubin, 70, participated in sex acts with the women in luxury hotels in New York, and later, a rented penthouse apartment in Manhattan that was converted into a so-called “sex dungeon” outfitted with bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sadomasochism equipment, a 10-count indictment alleges.

“During many such encounters, Rubin engaged in conduct beyond the scope of the women’s consent,” the indictment in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, alleges.

“During many of these encounters, Rubin brutalized women’s bodies, causing them to fear for their safety and/or resulting in significant pain or injuries, which at times required women to seek medical attention,” the indictment charges.

The former Soros Fund portfolio manager Rubin and his ex-personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, spent at least $1 million of Rubin’s money “operating and maintaining the trafficking network,” the indictment said.

Rubin was arrested by FBI agents at his home in Fairfield, Connecticut. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday afternoon in Brooklyn federal court.

Rubin is a former bond trader at Salomon Brothers, and also did stints at Bear, Stearns and Merrill Lynch.

He first gained public notoriety in 1987 for making unauthorized trades at Merrill Lynch, which the firm at the time said contributed to a massive $250 million loss from mortgage securities. Rubin’s action at Merrill, which led to his termination, is detailed in Michael Lewis’ Wall Street memoir “Liar’s Poker.”

Powers was arrested in Texas and is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. She is also charged with bank fraud in connection with alleged misrepresentations she made to a bank while financing the mortgage for her and her husband’s Texas home, authorities said.

Powers is accused in the indictment of facilitating Rubin’s commercial sexual encounters from at least 2011 through 2019, allegedly recruiting women to travel to New York and paid for their acts with Rubin, as well as managing “the fallout from women’s complaints” stemming from those acts.

CNBC has requested comment from Rubin’s attorney, Michael Gilbert.

The indictment alleges the sex trafficking of six women, some of whom were also identified as women who were transported across state line with the intent to engage in prostitution, in violation of the Mann Act.

“Rubin and Powers required the women to sign non-disclosure agreements … which purported to require the women to assume the risk of the hazards and injury of the BDSM encounters with Rubin, prohibit the disclosure of information about the BDSM sex with Rubin and require the payment of damages in the event of a breach,” the Brooklyn U.S. Attonrney’s Office said in a statement.

“Rubin used the NDAs to threaten the women with legal consequences and public shaming if they sought legal recourse,” the office said.

The office also said that after Rubin’s alleged sexual encounters with women, “Rubin and/or Powers used Rubin’s money to pay the women by wire transfer or a payment service such as PayPal or Venmo.”

“At times, Powers structured the payments to avoid sending a single transaction of $10,000 or more, to avoid triggering reporting obligations by the bank,” the office said. “The indictment alleges the defendants spent at least $1 million of Rubin’s money operating and maintaining the trafficking network.”

If convicted of sex trafficking, Rubin and Powers each face a maximum possible sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Rubin was sued in 2017 by two self-identified Playboy models and another model from Florida, who claimed they were beaten, sexually abused and raped by Rubin in multiple incidents in New York City in 2016.

“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,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement.

“Today’s 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,” he said.

— CNBC’s Jim Forkin contributed to this story

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