Prostitution sting: What legal jeopardy does Robert Kraft face?
Arraignment for NFL owner Robert Kraft is set for April 24; insight from Kim Wehle, former assistant U.S. attorney.
A blurry photo published Friday in the Miami Herald showed the founder and the one-time owner of a spa implicated in a human-trafficking ring attending President Trump’s Super Bowl watch party at his West Palm Beach country club in February, a report stated.
Li Yang, 45, an entrepreneur from China, snapped the blurry selfie with Trump, who smiled for the photo. The commander in chief was seated at a round table decorated with paper-cutout footballs.
The Super Bowl game was between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams in Atlanta. Trump and Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots, are longtime friends.
Nineteen days after the Patriots secured their sixth Super Bowl win, Kraft, 77, was charged with soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida, which Yang had founded more than a decade earlier. Authorities said Kraft visited the spa on Jan. 19 and again on the morning of Jan. 20 and was caught on camera paying for oral sex. Later, he flew to Kansas City to watch his team play in the AFC Championship game. His name was among more than a dozen others who were charged.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS OWNER ROBERT KRAFT CHARGED WITH SOLICITING SEX AT FLORIDA SPA
Kraft has denied the charged and an arraignment has been slated for March 28 in West Palm Beach.
Yang, who goes by Cindy, said she sold the spa in 2013, the Miami Herald reported. She was not charged in the multiagency anti-human trafficking operation that resulted in 25 arrests and shut down 10 Asian day spas in South Florida. None of those spas are registered to Yang or her family.
Yang’s family owns several spas in South Florida. The Miami Herald reported the family’s Tokyo Day Spa branches, founded in 2007, have “gained a reputation for offering sexual services” and have attracted the attention of at least two police agencies.
President Trump and Robert Kraft are longtime friends. (Getty Images)
Yang told the Miami Herald that “she and her family have never broken the law.” She said she is out of the business and would be moving to Washington, D.C., shortly and “didn’t want any negative press.”
NFL PLAYERS REACT TO PATRIOTS OWNER ROBERT KRAFT'S SOLICITATION CHARGES
The media outlet reported Yang had not voted in 10 years before the 2016 presidential election. Recently, Yang has been a fixture at Republican political events on the East Coast. Her Facebook page contains a number of photos of her posing with Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis, Trump’s eldest sons Eric and Donald Jr., and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Records showed Yang and some of her close family members have contributed more than $42,000 to Trump Victory, a political action committee, and more than $16,000 to the president’s re-election campaign. Yang told the Miami Herald she does not know Trump personally.
“I just come to some events. There’s nothing special,” Yang said.
Fox News’ request for comment from Trump’s political campaign was not immediately answered.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
