A pair of ladies who have been charged in the brothel sting that caught New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft are reportedly alleging that a controversial video from the scene has been shopped to media outlets by prosecutors.
By Clark Savage, Jr.
The video reportedly shows Kraft cavorting in the nude at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Florida.
The pair, identified as Lei Wang and Hua Zhang, reportedly said in a court filing that as far as they can tell, the video in question must have been leaked by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office or the Jupiter Police Department, according to Fox Business.
The notion that the video was being offered “to multiple media outlets” was first reported last week by The Blast.
“Representatives of our news operation viewed the footage, and upon watching, can verify the tape appears to show Kraft in the massage parlor with another person, presumably the massage therapist,” the Blast said in a statement.
Kraft is said to have pleaded not guilty to solicitation of prostitution and is fighting the allegations. According to the New York Post, his attorneys are looking to bar prosecutors from releasing surveillance footage from the spa, “arguing it would prejudice a future jury; on Wednesday a judge blocked the release of the footage, at least for the time being. Kraft’s lawyers have disparaged the footage as “basically pornography.”
Kraft received some good news last week when Palm Beach County prosecutors said they found no human trafficking at the Jupiter massage parlor where he allegedly paid female workers for sex, according to the Boston Globe. It added, “The disclosure provides the 77-year-old billionaire his first legal breakthrough as he attempts to restore his reputation and suppress the video evidence against him. Police had cited possible human trafficking when they successfully applied for a “sneak and peek’’ warrant under the Patriot Act to conduct covert video surveillance at the spa.”
A bit of humor was injected into the controversy by the Miami Herald, which recently wrote that Kraft’s attorneys “desperately, frantically, do not want the tapes released. Under Florida’s Sunshine Law, however, such evidence is a public record. The media will fight, as it should, to get copies. Kraft’s lawyers will fight to suppress. With the exception of gleeful fans of the Miami Dolphins and other Patriots rivals, it’s difficult to imagine why anyone in their right mind is dying to see videotape of a 77-year-old man with his pants around his ankles wriggling on a massage table. Seriously, folks, hasn’t America been through enough?
“My guess is there are millions of people, like myself, who — despite a profound reverence for the Constitution, especially the First Amendment — would reach into their pockets and pay good money to not have to see whatever Kraft was doing at the Orchids of Asia,” the Herald added.
