MIAMI: Reigning NFL Super Bowl champion New England Patriots principal owner, Robert Kraft, has been charged with paying for sex following a raid on a massage parlor in Florida, police said.
The 77-year-old businessman has a net worth of $6.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine, which puts him among the top 20% of the Forbes richest list for 2018; police said the average fees for services at the parlor ranged from $59 for 30 minutes to $79 for one hour, though it was uncertain of the amounts Kraft actually paid.
A dispatch from the international news service, Agence France Presse (AFP) said the 77-year-old businessman, a friend of President Donald Trump, was charged in connection with an investigation into an illegal massage parlor operation.
Kraft, whose club recently beat the Los Angeles Rams for its third title in five seasons, is among 25 men charged with solicitation, the AFP report citing police chief Daniel Kerr, as saying, adding that video evidence had been collected in raids made over recent days.
“We’re as deeply stunned as anyone else,” AFP quoted Kerr as saying in its report.
A spokesperson for Kraft denied that the tycoon had “engaged in any illegal activity” but declined to comment further, said the AFP report which was also published by The Manila Times.
Police said the charges were part of an eight-month probe into human trafficking that included surveillance in five spas and the closing down 10 in a case prosecutors say has links to China and New York.
Police say Kraft twice driven to the spa and that they have video evidence of him paying for a sex act and of sex acts with a prostitute. (Photo: Business Insider)
