Howard Rubin was a Wall Street high roller who had it all. He earned millions for the likes of George Soros, owned homes on New York’s Upper East Side and in the Hamptons, and enjoyed the respectability that came with writing big cheques to worthy causes.
Other cheques he wrote, often for $5,000, to women willing to take part in sadomasochistic sex, have had the opposite effect.
Six of the women are suing Rubin for a total of $18 million, for physical abuse and say that he acted in a way that went beyond what they had agreed, according to the New York Post.
It is claimed one woman was so badly beaten that her plastic surgeon was not willing to operate on her. Another says that they had sex against her will.
A civil trial brought by his alleged victims is scheduled for November. Initial accusations were made in November 2017. His wife of 36 years, another Wall Street banker, Mary Henry, filed for divorce last month.
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The first allegations were brought by Mia Lytell and Amy Moore, both former Playboy Playmates, and Stephanie Caldwell, a model who worked at a Miami strip club.
They accuse Rubin of assault, battery and human trafficking. “In short, they are each alleging that they were brought to New York and taken advantage of,” John Balestriere, the women’s lawyer, said.
The initial lawsuit said that while Lytell and Moore believed that Rubin intended to play “some mild fetish games and perhaps take photos, neither expected to be [bound with rope and tape and gagged] or to be actually beaten”.
According to a motion for summary judgment, filed by Edward McDonald, Rubin’s lawyer, the women signed non-disclosure agreements, with penalties of at least $500,000 if they were broken. They also acknowledged that they could be injured during sex games, it is claimed.
McDonald said that his client denied their claims and added: “Mr Rubin has not been charged with any crimes. It is entirely a civil matter.”
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The Manhattan flat Rubin rented for the liaisons is understood to have been filled with bondage and sadomasochistic equipment. An X-cross, on which people can be spreadeagled, was in the centre of the main room.
A former colleague said that Rubin was “high-strung, aggressive, does not hold back his feelings”.
