Howard Rubin, money manager, charged with sex trafficking

Famed 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.

Prosecutors alleged a litany of stomach-churning, abusive acts against women by the 70-year-old Rubin, who first gained infamy in the 1980s with an unauthorized trade that cost his then-firm tens of millions in losses.

A federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn, New York, ordered Rubin detained without bail, for now, after prosecutors argued the former Salomon Brothers bond trader was a flight risk and that he had discussed hiring a “hit man to target women who had filed a civil suit against him.”

Prosecutors also cited the retired Wall Streeter’s alleged prior attempts at witness intimidation and said that the victims in the case are “universally” afraid of him, before Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo rejected Rubin’s bid to be released on a $25 million bond.

Rubin is alleged in a 10-count indictment to have participated in sex acts with the women in luxury hotels in New York, and later rented a two-bedroom penthouse apartment in Manhattan that was converted into a so-called “sex dungeon” outfitted with bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sadomasochism equipment, as well as soundproofing.

The equipment allegedly included a device to “shock or electrocute women,” prosecutors said.

“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 Management financier and his ex-personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, 45, spent at least $1 million of Rubin’s money “operating and maintaining the trafficking network,” which lasted from at least 2009 through 2019, the indictment said.

Rubin was arrested by FBI agents at his home in Fairfield, Connecticut.

He pleaded not guilty during his appearance Friday afternoon in Brooklyn court, which was delayed by a medical incident that led to him being evaluated at a hospital.

Prosecutors in a letter to Kuo asked that Rubin be held without bail, “because no condition or combination of conditions can reasonably secure Rubin’s appearance in court as required or the safety of the community.” The letter noted that he had “extraordinary wealth, some of which is held in accounts overseas.” In 2024, Rubin had more than $74 million in a Cayman Islands account, the letter said.

Prosecutors said that there were at least 10 other people who helped Rubin facilitate his alleged crimes, and cited tax documents that they argued indicated his financial crimes continued until his arrest.

They said Rubin was found with eight cell phones and three BlackBerry devices. He would not reveal where his passport was, and did not surrender it when arrested.

Rubin’s lawyer argued he was not a flight risk because two of his adult children and his grandchildren live near him.

The lawyer also cited Rubin’s health condition, saying he had a stroke in July.

Kuo rejected that argument, but Rubin’s defense team could make a new bail application. He is next scheduled to be in court on Oct. 20.

Powers was arrested at her home in Soutlake, Texas, and is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas next week. 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 home in Southlake, Texas, authorities said.

Prosecutors want a “substantial bail package” for Powers.

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 November 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.

In April 2022, a civil jury in Brooklyn federal court found Rubin liable for sex trafficking six women who had sued him and Powers, and ordered him to pay them a total of $3.85 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Powers was not found liable by that jury.

Rubin is currently appealing the civil judgment.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn had no comment when asked why there was a lag of nearly eight years between the filing of the civil lawsuit against Rubin and the office obtaining a criminal indictment against…