HORRIFYING SCHEME: Ex-Soros Fund manager ran ‘torture dungeon’ for Playboy models, feds say

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From Fox News: A former Soros Fund Management portfolio manager has been indicted on charges of luring women — including former Playboy models — to his Manhattan penthouse with a room outfitted with a soundproof “dungeon,” where prosecutors say he subjected them to violent sexual abuse.

Howard Rubin, 70, a retired New York financier also known as “Howie” and “H,” has been indicted alongside Jennifer Powers, 45, his longtime assistant, on federal sex trafficking and bank fraud charges.

Prosecutors allege that between at least 2009 and 2019, Rubin ran an extensive network recruiting women to engage in sex in exchange for money, often relying on force, fraud and coercion.

Rubin is accused of using nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and coercion to silence women who suffered violent, torture-like abuse.

Fox News also explains:

During a three-decade career, Rubin worked at various financial firms, including Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Soros Fund Management. Rubin worked at Soros Fund Management from 2008 to 2015 as a portfolio manager, focusing on mortgage-backed securities, though there is no indication he had any personal connection to George Soros, the billionaire financier and philanthropist.

ABC News explained that some of the victims were former Playboy models targeted through modeling pages or social media, and wrote:

Rubin, a former top manager at Soros Fund Management and Bear Stearns, has been under investigation for years after multiple women claimed in 2017 he subjected them to beatings and rape. Rubin has long denied the accusations but the women won a multimillion dollar civil judgment against him for violating the Trafficking Victim Protection Act.

The Justice Department shared chilling and horrifying details of the scheme in a press release on Friday:

A 10-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging retired New York-based financier, Howard Rubin, also known as “Howie” and “H,” along with his personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, with sex trafficking and transporting women in interstate commerce for sex acts with Rubin.  Rubin was also charged with bank fraud in connection with misrepresentations made to a bank in the course of financing Powers’s mortgage for the Texas home of Powers and her husband.

Rubin was arrested this morning in Fairfield, Connecticut and will be arraigned this afternoon in federal court in Brooklyn before United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo.  Powers was arrested in Texas this morning and is scheduled to make her initial appearance on Monday in federal court in the Northern District of Texas.  Powers will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.

Joseph Nocella Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, New York Field Office (FBI), and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI New York) announced the arrests and indictment.

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Rubin, now retired, built his wealth in New York City working in finance.  Powers, became his personal assistant around 2011, and managed the logistical aspects of their commercial sex operation. 

As alleged in the indictment, between 2009 and 2019, Rubin and Powers 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, and some of the women were trafficked. 

The commercial sex acts initially took place in luxury hotels, and then later in Rubin’s two-bedroom penthouse apartment (the “Penthouse”) in midtown Manhattan where he 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. 

Rubin also used force, fraud and coercion to traffic another woman in 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Additionally, while fully embroiled in civil litigation related to this same conduct, Rubin falsely told a bank that he was not a party to litigation to secure a mortgage for Powers’s Texas home, which he financed.

As alleged, Rubin and Powers, together with others, recruited women to engage in commercial sex acts with Rubin.  Powers frequently arranged the women’s flights to New York to LaGuardia or John F. Kennedy International Airports in Queens and then transported them to the Penthouse.  During many of these encounters, Rubin brutalized women’s bodies, causing them to fear for their safety and/or resulting in significant pain and injuries.

As further alleged in the indictment, Rubin and Powers required the women to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), 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.  Rubin used the NDAs to threaten the women with legal consequences and public shaming if they sought legal recourse.

After the sexual encounters, 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 indictment alleges the defendants spent at least $1 million of Rubin’s money operating and maintaining the trafficking network.

The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.  If convicted of sex trafficking, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.  If convicted of transporting women to engage in commercial sex acts, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment on each count.  If Rubin is convicted of bank fraud, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment.

If you believe you have been victimized by or have information about Howard Rubin or Jennifer Powers, please contact the FBI at fbi.gov/HowardRubinVictims, [email protected] or 212-384-3600.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Human Trafficking and Civil Rights Section.  Assistant United States Attorneys Kayla Bensing, Tara McGrath, and Raffaela S. Belizaire are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialists Marlane Bosler and Timothy Migliaro

The Defendants:

HOWARD RUBIN (also known as “Howie” and “H”)
Age:  70
Fairfield, Connecticut

JENNIFER POWERS
Age:  45
Southlake, Texas

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-281 (MKB)

 

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