Balestriere Fariello Files Suit Against Human Trafficking RICO Enterprise After Months of Investigation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Balestriere Fariello filed suit against Wall Street executive Howard (“Howie”) A. Rubin (who was featured in the books Liar’s Poker and The Big Short) on behalf of three plaintiffs, bringing racketeering and human trafficking claims against Rubin and his co-conspirators. After conducting a months-long investigation through their lawyers, Plaintiffs filed a complaint in federal court in Brooklyn alleging that Rubin and his co-conspirators (including a former prosecutor) worked together in the Enterprise which lied to women to lure them to travel across the United States to a secret penthouse Rubin controlled in Midtown Manhattan. In the Penthouse, Rubin would beat and rape the women. Plaintiffs in this action were not selling sex to Rubin. Rather, Rubin sought to socialize with them and take BDSM pictures in exchange for a fee. Because these women previously posed for photoshoots, Plaintiffs agreed to meet with Rubin. Instead of engaging in this BDSM photography as Plaintiffs anticipated, however, Rubin engaged in the misconduct alleged in the complaint. Plaintiffs charge that Rubin and the other individuals and entities in the enterprise—who also perpetrated acts of obstruction of justice—violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and are liable for a series of other claims including assault, battery, illegal imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“Howard Rubin and his co-conspirators have run a human trafficking Enterprise for years, lying to women to lure them to New York before beating, sexually assaulting, and in some cases outright raping them,” said former organized crime and sex crimes prosecutor John G. Balestriere of Balestriere Fariello, which recently obtained a RICO judgment for a client in the same court where Plaintiffs filed suit. Jeremy Saland, a partner at Crotty Saland PC, and former Manhattan prosecutor representing both victims and those accused of crimes, said, “While arrogance and self-import may convince certain men otherwise, neither money nor power gives any person the right to victimize a woman. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that victims’ voices are heard, and that abusers’ positions of privilege do not exempt them from the grasp of justice.” Continued Mr. Balestriere, “We implore other victims of the Enterprise to contact us.”
Balestriere Fariello is a trials and investigations law firm that represents individuals, companies, and institutions from the United States and abroad in civil and criminal matters in trial and appellate courts, domestic and foreign arbitrations, regulatory proceedings, negotiations, and grand jury matters. The firm is unique: unlike most firms, it combines a complex and sophisticated litigation background and hard-nosed negotiation experience with the willingness, ability, and experience to push cases to trial and win.
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