Financier Howard Rubin to stay behind bars awaiting 2027 sex trafficking trial

Howard Rubin, the retired Bear Stearns trader accused of trafficking and brutalizing at least ten women at his Manhattan penthouse over a decade, will remain jailed at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center after a Second Circuit panel rejected his bid for release on a proposed $75 million bail package. Judge Brian Cogan set trial for September 2027.

Prosecutors allege Rubin and his assistant Jennifer Powers lured women, often Playboy models contacted through modeling pages or high-end prostitution networks, into a soundproofed 'sex dungeon' outfitted with restraints and electroshock devices, and that Powers minimized injuries victims reported to her. Rubin also allegedly sent a threatening letter to a victim before a 2022 civil trial that ended with a $3.85 million judgment against him.

At Wednesday's hearing, Cogan cleared Rubin to keep his attorney Michael Gilbert despite Gilbert's advance knowledge of the letter, after Gilbert denied any hand in writing it. Rubin has also retained Marc Agnifilo, previously counsel to Sean Combs and Luigi Mangione.

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