Overview

• A grand jury in the Eastern District of New York charged retired financier Howard Rubin, 70, and his former assistant Jennifer Powers, 45, with sex trafficking and transporting women for commercial sex acts from 2009 to 2019.
• Rubin was arrested in Fairfield, Connecticut, and scheduled for arraignment in Brooklyn federal court on Friday, while Powers was arrested in Texas with an initial appearance set for Monday before transfer to New York.
• The indictment describes encounters at luxury hotels and a Midtown penthouse bedroom converted into a red, soundproofed room with BDSM equipment, including an electroshock device, and alleges conduct beyond the women’s consent as well as a 2018 Las Vegas trafficking incident.
• Prosecutors say the defendants required NDAs that were later used to threaten legal consequences, paid women via wires or apps with some payments structured below reporting thresholds, and spent at least $1 million operating the network.
• Rubin also faces a bank fraud count tied to financing Powers’s Texas mortgage, and if convicted on sex trafficking charges both defendants face a mandatory minimum of 15 years and up to life; authorities invited potential victims to contact the FBI and noted the defendants are presumed innocent.