NDAs Were Never Going to Save Rubin
Courts won’t enforce contracts that try to waive away abuse. In Rubin’s case, his NDAs backfired — becoming evidence of coercion, not consent.
When Howard Rubin’s accusers first filed their civil trafficking lawsuit, one detail grabbed headlines: he had required women to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) before encounters in his Manhattan penthouse dungeon. To some, those contracts looked like the ultimate weapon of protection — ironclad promises of silence, backed by penalties.
But when the case went to trial, those NDAs turned out to be worthless as shields — and in some ways, damaging to Rubin’s own defense.
Why NDAs Failed in Court
Courts enforce contracts unless they violate public policy. And here’s the hard stop:
- You can’t contract away your right to be free from assault, battery, or trafficking.
- You can’t pre-consent to being harmed in ways that go beyond ordinary BDSM play.
- You can’t sign an agreement that strips you of remedies for intentional torts or federal statutory rights.
The judge in Rubin’s case made it clear: NDAs signed before sex trafficking encounters don’t shield the trafficker. Instead, they highlight an effort to silence and intimidate accusers.
When Contracts Become Evidence
Rubin’s NDAs didn’t just fail to protect him — they helped prove the plaintiffs’ claims. Jurors heard about:
- Blank NDAs kept in a safe in his penthouse.
- Women being handed NDAs after drinking, or pressured to sign without understanding.
- Language that forced women to assume risk of injury and agree not to sue.
To the jury, this didn’t look like consensual play. It looked like a paper trail of coercion, designed to insulate Rubin from accountability.
The Broader Lesson
This case wasn’t just about one defendant’s downfall. It’s a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks contracts can sanitize misconduct:
- NDAs can protect reputations in business disputes, trade secrets, or even consensual breakups.
- But NDAs can’t legalize abuse. They don’t override criminal statutes or erase liability for trafficking, sexual assault, or intentional harm.
Rubin’s mistake was thinking money and paperwork could make him untouchable. In reality, the NDAs became part of the narrative that jurors used to brand him a trafficker.
The Missed Alternative
Ironically, the one contract that might have helped Rubin wasn’t an NDA at all — it was a settlement agreement after litigation began. Courts do enforce post-incident settlements, because those resolve actual disputes voluntarily. Had Rubin chosen to settle early, he might have avoided a public trial and the verdict that now follows him into a pending federal criminal case.
Bottom Line
NDAs were never going to save Rubin. Instead of shielding him, they underscored his efforts to control and silence women. In the end, the law drew the line: no contract can excuse trafficking.
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