Howard Rubin, a former Wall Street financier, is facing serious criminal charges over a luxury Manhattan apartment that prosecutors say was turned into a sex‑trafficking hub.
Lawyers say Rubin used a penthouse at the Metropolitan Tower Condominium, a 18‑floor building on 57th Street just below Central Park, to run a $1 million bondage and masochism scheme between 2009 and 2019. The penthouse cost about $18,000 a month and offered sweeping city views, but most visitors never saw them.
According to indictment documents, Rubin and his assistant, Jennifer Powers, lured dozens of women—many Playboy models and other paid performers—into the sound‑proofed apartment. Once inside, the women faced chest‑tightening restraints, electric shocks, and forced beatings. Court filings detail a red‑painted room with a cross‑shaped restraint frame, a special “St. Andrews cross,” and a set of bondage equipment, ropes, chains, metal hooks, and a cattle prod intended to cause pain.
Prosecutors claim the women were misled, given drugs or alcohol, and coerced into sexual acts on the property, which Rubin described as his “dungeon.” A former associate of Rubin’s told the press that it is unusual when a private individual asks strangers to sign non‑disclosure agreements before a date—an arrangement that often signals trouble.
Despite the dark allegations, life outside the penthouse seemed normal for Rubin, who kept a flat nearby with his wife and three children. He reportedly worked at a George Soros investment firm and later at Merrill Lynch. Mrs. Powers now lives in Texas and has posted an $850,000 bond to stay free. Rubin has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bail while his next court date is set for Oct. 20.
The Metropolitan Tower condominium’s security is famously tight. On the building’s “Fort Knox” reputation, staff vet every entry. One resident explained, “They’re very thorough. They get your information every time you enter, and it’s hard to get anything past them unless you have the right connections.”
This case shines a light on hidden activity in many upscale New York apartments, where consensual kink dens can exist alongside illegal exploitation. A local real‑estate advisor noted that true “sex dungeons” should be for consenting adults, not the basis for violence and trafficking.
The story comes after earlier civil lawsuits in 2017 and 2022 that held Rubin liable for monetary damages against several women, some of whom were named in the criminal case. Whether the financial judgments will influence the upcoming criminal trial remains to be seen. The prosecution’s next move is likely to focus on proving that the building was used as a “sex‑trafficking crime scene” under the defendants’ control.
Source: New York Post
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