Ex-Bear Stearns trader Howard Rubin denied bail, remains jailed pending 2027 sex-trafficking trial

Senior U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan scheduled the trial of Howard Rubin, a 71-year-old former Bear Stearns trader accused of a decade-long campaign of sexual violence, for Sept. 13, 2027, and ordered him to remain at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after an appeals court rejected his $75 million bail proposal. Federal prosecutors claim Rubin and his personal assistant Jennifer Powers recruited ten women between 2009 and 2019, drawing them to a sound-proof, locked Manhattan penthouse equipped as a BDSM “sex dungeon,” where they endured brutal assaults, ignored safe words, and suffered injuries such as a breast-implant rupture.

The indictment lists 16 charges, ranging from sex trafficking and interstate prostitution to bank fraud, and notes a prior civil judgment requiring Rubin to pay $3.85 million to victims. Ahead of the trial, Rubin sent a threatening letter to a victim, a point prosecutors say will be addressed. Judge Cogan confirmed Rubin may keep attorney Michael Gilbert, who was aware of the letter but denied involvement, while also retaining defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo; both declined comment on the detention. The case underscores the alleged exploitation of high-profile models and the legal system’s handling of severe sexual-crime allegations.