NEW YORK, Sept 27 — The retired financier Howard Rubin has been indicted on sex trafficking charges for allegedly coercing women to fly to New York to perform sex acts with him, including in what he called a sex “dungeon” in his Manhattan penthouse, prosecutors said yesterday.

Between at least 2009 and 2019, Rubin ran an extensive network where he recruited women, often former Playboy models, to engage in sex in exchange for money, often relying on force, fraud and coercion, prosecutors said.

Rubin pleaded not guilty to the charges yesterday. A US magistrate judge ordered Rubin to be detained without bail and said he was a flight risk, according to the US Attorney’s office in Brooklyn.

Rubin and his assistant Jennifer Powers, who was also indicted, spent more than US$1 million (RM16.8 million) of Rubin’s money funding the operation, prosecutors added.

Rubin’s lawyer did not immediately reply to a request for comment. — Reuters