EU News Digest Latest News & Updates
Austin McAfee | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft listens to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speak to the media over various topics in the league leading up to Super Bowl LIII at the Georgia World Congress Center on January 30, 2019, in Atlanta, GA.
Kraft, who is worth an estimated $6.6 billion, was not in custody, but an arrest warrant will be issued for him charging him with two counts of soliciting.
Kraft is accused of soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, where an investigation had found women were being held there in “sexual servitude.”
Many of the woman at the spa were from China, and were not allowed to leave the premises, police said, according to the TCPalm.com news site. Police have already arrested multiple people accused of being involved in the business.
Kraft is being charged with crimes connected to two separate visits to the spa after being driven there, cops said. Police also said he seem seemed to be a “regular” at the business, which is located about 20 miles north of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, which Kraft also regularly visits.
Average fees for sexual services at the spa range from $59 for a half-hour to $79 for an hour, police said.
A spokesman for Kraft said, “We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity. Because it is a judicial matter, we will not be commenting further.”
Police said evidence in the cases came from witnesses, surveillance video and body cameras worn by officers.
Cops did not say when Kraft visited the spa.
Kraft is chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group, a private holding company that owns a variety of businesses, including the Patriots, which he bought in 1994, a a paper-manufacturing conglomerate.
Kraft earlier this month celebrated his team’s record-tying sixth Super Bowl victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
Forbes last year estimated that the Patriots were worth $3.8 billion, making them the second-most valuable NFL franchise, after the Dallas Cowboys.
Kraft’s wife Myra Hiatt died in 2011. Since 2012, he has dated Ricki Noel Lander, a 39-year-old actress.
