FAIRFIELD – A 10-count indictment was unsealed Friday in federal court in Brooklyn charging retired New York-based financier Howard ‘Howie’ Rubin along with his personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, with sex trafficking and transporting women in interstate commerce for sex acts with Rubin.
Rubin, 70, was arrested Friday morning in Fairfield and was arraigned in the afternoon in federal court in Brooklyn before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo. Powers, 45, was arrested in Texas Friday morning. She 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.
Rubin was also charged with bank fraud in connection with misrepresentations made to a 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.
bank in the course of financing Powers’ mortgage for her Texas home.
Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. 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, IRS Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI New York) announced the arrests and indictment.
“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,” Nocella said. “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. 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.”
The FBI’s Raia added that for many years, Rubin and Powers allegedly spent at least $1 million to finance the commercial sexual torture of multiple women via a national trafficking network.
“The FBI will continue to apprehend any trafficker who sexually abuses others for twisted gratification,” Raia said.
Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI Chavis explained how the sex trafficking ring went down.
“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,” he said. “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.
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 masochism (BDSM), and some of the women were trafficked.
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 JFK 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.
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 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
