At the end of September, a high-profile scandal erupted in the US surrounding the figure of 70-year-old Howard Rubenstein—a famous financier, millionaire, and philanthropist. It turned out that, with the help of his assistant, he had been luring women to his New York penthouse for years and sexually assaulting them. Howard Rubenstein and Jennifer Powers are already being compared in cruelty and unscrupulousness to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who supplied girls for rape to high-ranking officials, including Prince Andrew, the younger brother of Charles III. “Lenta.ru” reports on the most high-profile case of sexual exploitation in the US in recent years. Rubenstein was arrested in September along with his assistant Information about the arrest of the millionaire and his assistant appeared on the US Department of Justice website on September 26. Rubenstein was detained at his home in Fairfield, Connecticut. His 45-year-old girlfriend and closest assistant was taken into custody in Texas. The charges against this pair, oddly enough, are not related to stock market manipulation, although Rubenstein, according to sources, was also an expert in that field. It turned out that in addition to his financial activities, he liked women. True, this “love” seemed to bring pleasure only to Rubenstein. His victims, on the other hand, had to endure pain, abuse, and keep silent. Today’s arrests show that no one involved in sexual exploitation, in this case in luxury hotels and a penthouse where a so-called sex dungeon was located, is above the law and will be held accountable. Photo: Jonathon Zielger / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images Rubenstein was denied bail, despite the efforts of his numerous and very expensive lawyers. Powers was released before the next court hearing upon payment of $850,000 (69 million rubles). Soon after the arrest, news emerged of Rubenstein’s long tenure in the structures of George Soros Rubenstein was born in 1955 in Massachusetts, trained as a chemical engineer, and then obtained an MBA from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He began his career as a financier in 1983 at the holding company Salomon Brothers, where he became one of the creators of the system of collateralized mortgage obligations. These are debt obligations secured by the debtor’s real estate. If the debtor fails to repay the money, the financial institution gains the right to dispose of their home. Rubenstein was so successful that in his first year of work, according to Michael Lewis’s book *Liar’s Poker*, he earned $25 million. Today that would be over $80 million. In the late 1980s, he moved to the major investment bank Merrill Lynch, but was soon caught selling securities worth $500 million without management permission and was fired. The dashing financier did not mourn for long and joined the management of the investment bank Bear Stearns, which went bankrupt during the Great Recession of 2008. Rubenstein himself did not go bankrupt but parachuted out on a golden parachute straight into the top manager seat at the investment company Soros Fund Management of the odious financier George Soros, who apparently duly appreciated the skills of the cunning trader. Rubenstein cannot be called a particularly famous financial market mover, but he has served on the boards of major banks for over 30 years and multiplied his personal wealth. In particular, he appears as a background character in two books by Lewis—a former floor trader who later became a famous journalist and writer. Lewis, having already obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University, studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the early 1980s, after which he got a job as a trader at that very Salomon Brothers. Rubenstein was busy there with innovations in seizing homes from debtors. In 2010, Lewis would write his most famous bestseller, *The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine*, about the Great Recession, which was caused primarily by the mortgage crisis. Rubenstein is mentioned there as one of the participants in the events. And even in the Oscar-winning film *The Big Short* in 2015, his character briefly appears in the background. The first accusations against Rubenstein surfaced many years ago In the same year, 2015, Rubenstein retired and began living off the millions he had accumulated over 30 years of managing financial institutions. At that time, he also began spending money on charity. Now this looks like a form of very sophisticated mockery, but in 2015-2016, Rubenstein supported women’s organizations. In particular, he and his wife donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Junior League, founded back in 1901—an organization dedicated to helping the poor and developing civil society. This organization helps low-income women, places orphans in foster families and supports these families, and ironically, fights against the involvement of women in prostitution and human trafficking. Furthermore, Rubenstein participated in numerous charity events for cancer research foundations. However, it is possible that this was a way for him to cover up his inclinations. Back in 2017, a group of women, who wish to remain anonymous, accused Rubenstein of rape and battery. The financier denied everything, and his lawyers stalled the case in every way possible. No criminal prosecution followed at that time, but the victims won a civil lawsuit that ordered Rubenstein to pay the victims many millions of dollars. The main charges concerned sexual exploitation, the fight against which Rubenstein donated part of his fortune. He never admitted guilt. On the surface, Rubenstein indeed appeared quite honest and noble, as much as that is possible for a stock trader. In 1985, he married Mary Henry, who also worked on Wall Street. They had three children. Then Rubenstein and his wife began donating to charity. The embodiment of the American dream, no less. One might have thought that Rubenstein was slandered by competitors he had once crossed, or by ruined clients. However, the civil trial in 2017 was not the end of the matter. Rubenstein organized a BDSM salon in the penthouse of a luxury skyscraper in New York, where he tortured women for 10 years The charges brought against Rubenstein and Powers at the end of September were not exactly unexpected, but the scale of these crimes had not been publicized before. It turned out that very close to the home in Manhattan where the financier lived with his family, he rented another apartment—a penthouse atop the Metropolitan Tower skyscraper on 57th Street with a view of the famous Central Park. According to the Department of Justice investigators, Rubenstein set up a special room there, which he referred to as the Dungeon in his correspondence with Powers, where he abused women. According to the accusations, from at least 2009 to 2019, Powers lured victims to the wealthy trader’s penthouse, where he acted out his perverted fantasies with their help. Victims and witnesses testified that the walls there were painted red, and a white carpet covered the floor. In Rubenstein’s Dungeon, there was a wooden St. Andrew’s cross to which a victim could be fastened. The bed was also equipped with devices to completely immobilize a woman. “I attached chains to the four ends of the cross and four points of the bed in your Dungeon. At the end of each chain—handcuffs. I did this so that it would be very easy to throw someone onto the cross or the bed and chain them with chains or handcuffs.” In addition, the Dungeon contained not only whips and zippered masks common in BDSM salons but also steel hooks, chains, and cattle prods. Most importantly, the dozens of women who ended up in the millionaire’s personal “paradise” did not consent to the use of any of these devices on them. However, before handing them over to Rubenstein’s clutches, Powers persuaded the future victims to sign non-disclosure agreements. They were obliged to remain silent about everything that happened in the penthouse or pay $500,000. This was because Rubenstein was, at least outwardly, happily married until 2021. Powers also has a husband and three children. Old friends of hers said that, having worked in New York clubs before meeting the financier in 2011, she always tried to protect female employees from the advances of lecherous clients and promoted Christian values among them. “She positioned herself as a person with firm beliefs, letting everyone know that she was a Christian, loved Jesus, as if she were born in Texas.” However, after starting to work for Rubenstein, Powers hid this veneer of a devout Christian with a touch of Southern severity far away. Victims spoke of Rubenstein’s extreme cruelty One victim recounted that Rubenstein chained her to the cross, beat her, and whipped her with canes for several hours, despite her pleas to stop. To another woman, before the abuse, he stated: “You are a child, and Howie is Daddy. Daddy has to spank his children.”
In the meantime, Rubin continued to beat and rape women, who lost consciousness and sustained injuries during the executions. But that wasn’t all. The financier continued to pursue his victims even after the horrific dates in the Dungeon. He derives pleasure, not just sexual, from his cruelty. It’s not just physical torture. He continues to use his money, influence, and the legal system to control people and cause them pain. Moreover, four victims reported that the millionaire’s Dungeon had a special place where he hung and displayed photographs of women who had been there. Among them, according to the victims’ testimony, were Playboy models from various years. However, none of the victims have revealed their names yet. This is likely connected to those non-disclosure agreements they signed. When the list of women will be disclosed and which celebrities are among them is not yet known. The court refused to release Rubin even on $50 million bail. After Rubin’s arrest, not only an army of his lawyers but also his relatives immediately got involved. They rushed to prove that the man could not have committed what he was accused of because he was a very kind and caring father and grandfather. However, his wife filed for divorce back in 2021 when the first accusations against him surfaced. Perhaps the woman suspected something. Nevertheless, Rubin’s daughter, Annalee, who is currently expecting her third child, sent an emotional bail application to the New York prosecutor’s office. In it, she described how the elderly man tenderly loves his grandchildren and is ready to be kind and funny for their sake. He is a devoted and loving grandfather, ready to do anything to make them happy. He dresses up in costumes of characters from the cartoon “Frozen” just to make them smile. The woman accompanied the message with touching photos of Rubin playing with his grandchildren. However, this did not create the expected impression on the prosecutors; they formed their own opinion of the former financier’s “heart temperature.” The response stated that Rubin would not be released before trial, even on $50 million bail, due to the seriousness of the accusations against him. There is no new information yet about the tender grandfather and his devoutly believing assistant, and the investigation continues. One thing is clear: they have turned the lives of several dozen women into a living hell, and they will have to answer for it, despite their fortunes and the army of lawyers dedicated to their defense. And the residents of the USA await the next twist in the case of the wealthy man who decided that millions in his account allowed him to do whatever he wanted with others.
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