NE Patriots owner Robert Kraft charged with soliciting prostitution

[Jfever]

Gross. Yet another despicable act. Human yes, i get it. But, c'mon... Isn't he married? Not that it stops a lot of people. And, who are we to judge, but, in reality - if we hold players to a certain standard in representing the NFL shield, it then makes sense that the owners would be held to such a standard. Not sure what will come from this if anything. It is just another reminder of the lack of morals with some in high places. I'm quite interested to see how and how quickly Goodell handles this. I was / am under the impression that Goodell and R.Kraft were buddies.

[Ice]

I didn't see the part about the human trafficking connection, so let me be clear that is absolutely disgusting, and my previous comment in now way was meant to make light of it.

That being said, Kraft may have had no idea that there was a connection, and as many massage parlors as there are that exist where I live, I think it would be a stretch to say that your average Joe Blow (no pun intended) who goes into one of these joints looking for an occasional happy ending is making that connection either.

It is a misdemeanor charge. If he was involved in trafficking he would not be charged with solicitation.

I will be surprised if he doesn't beat these charges. He has unlimited resources to fight a misdemeanor charge. Jupiter, FL is a pretty small city of 65K. Not sure they want to tie up their resources when this dies down over a misdemeanor charge. He can spend Millions to fight this and force them to spend at those levels while forcing massive time costs of half the police force in depositions exposing all facets of their investigation.

They have him on tape, in the act......

I heard that but video tape doesn't always tell the entire story.. How much tape? conversation? Listening to a detective's comment doesn't really mean a lot. Is it even going to be admissible?

We also heard Kraft's statement of a categorical denial.

BTW, just because he may and probably will get off the charge doesn't mean he didn't do it.

What I am saying is getting out of a misdemeanor isn't all that complicated. It is about like getting out of traffic ticket in many cases.

[_yeti]

I can't believe we live in a society where in most places it is still illegal to pay someone for a happy ending and where Josh Gordon may never play football again, while Leveon Bell can posts pics on Instagram displaying trays of cone rolling papers and be on the verge of receiving a huge contract.

And Zeke suspended when there is solid evidence of accuser planning a separate prior blackmail scheme before her accusations that never led to any arrest or charges and which there were multiple witnesses for who were there when police arrived on scene (and lead NFL investigator who was against suspension excluded by the NFL from meeting deciding punishment). OBJ filmed next to cocaine and not a peep from the league and no punishment at all. League conduct punishments are arbitrary and change with every single case and have absolutely no moral bearing. They always try to ride whatever they think is public opinion.

[Lotto4Life]

You know that Kraft-Heinz is a different "Kraft", right?

Yes. Which is why I tried to sneak it into the middle. Leave it to a Chicagoan to out my futile attempt to rile people.

[_yeti]

I didn't see the part about the human trafficking connection, so let me be clear that is absolutely disgusting, and my previous comment in now way was meant to make light of it.

That being said, Kraft may have had no idea that there was a connection, and as many massage parlors as there are that exist where I live, I think it would be a stretch to say that your average Joe Blow (no pun intended) who goes into one of these joints looking for an occasional happy ending is making that connection either.

It is a misdemeanor charge. If he was involved in trafficking he would not be charged with solicitation.

I will be surprised if he doesn't beat these charges. He has unlimited resources to fight a misdemeanor charge. Jupiter, FL is a pretty small city of 65K. Not sure they want to tie up their resources when this dies down over a misdemeanor charge. He can spend Millions to fight this and force them to spend at those levels while forcing massive time costs of half the police force in depositions exposing all facets of their investigation.

You are thinking of a civil case, this is criminal. While he can certainly hire an extremely expensive legal team (and he will), there is not the same ability to force years long litigation or depositions that usually happens in civil cases. My guess is he does the opposite and makes it go away as quickly as possible with a plea that avoids any jail, likely will stay off his record, and avoids all the media that would come with fighting it out in pretrial hearings and trial. The quicker it is over, the quicker it leaves the news.

[Ice]

Gross. Yet another despicable act. Human yes, i get it. But, c'mon... Isn't he married? Not that it stops a lot of people. And, who are we to judge, but, in reality - if we hold players to a certain standard in representing the NFL shield, it then makes sense that the owners would be held to such a standard. Not sure what will come from this if anything. It is just another reminder of the lack of morals with some in high places. I'm quite interested to see how and how quickly Goodell handles this. I was / am under the impression that Goodell and R.Kraft were buddies.

His wife died several years ago.

[WhatWouldDitkaDo]

tl;dr

1. Human trafficking is a huge issue that isn't mentioned enough, but I won't elaborate too much on a fantasy football forum.
2. In my opinion, prostitution should be legalized and regulated so that there is no incentive for human trafficking, and hey more tax money for the state/federal governments.
3. All that said, while this is 100% illegal and immoral on some levels, Robert Kraft shouldn't be made out to be a horrible person because of this incident alone.
4. At the end of the day, Kraft will face some kind of punishment and/or fine from the league, but I highly doubt that he will be forced to sell the Patriots, as some are speculating.

[Ice]

I didn't see the part about the human trafficking connection, so let me be clear that is absolutely disgusting, and my previous comment in now way was meant to make light of it.

That being said, Kraft may have had no idea that there was a connection, and as many massage parlors as there are that exist where I live, I think it would be a stretch to say that your average Joe Blow (no pun intended) who goes into one of these joints looking for an occasional happy ending is making that connection either.

It is a misdemeanor charge. If he was involved in trafficking he would not be charged with solicitation.

I will be surprised if he doesn't beat these charges. He has unlimited resources to fight a misdemeanor charge. Jupiter, FL is a pretty small city of 65K. Not sure they want to tie up their resources when this dies down over a misdemeanor charge. He can spend Millions to fight this and force them to spend at those levels while forcing massive time costs of half the police force in depositions exposing all facets of their investigation.

You are thinking of a civil case, this is criminal. While he can certainly hire an extremely expensive legal team (and he will), there is not the same ability to force years long litigation or depositions that usually happens in civil cases. My guess is he does the opposite and makes it go away as quickly as possible with a plea that avoids any jail, likely will stay off his record, and avoids all the media that would come with fighting it out in pretrial hearings and trial. The quicker it is over, the quicker it leaves the news.

No actually, I am not. He could do the opposite but don't think for he minute he cannot cause significant havoc on a judicial system. He could file all kinds of law suits against that jurisdiction if he so chooses.

Just a couple of points. A 77 year old guy walks into what looks like a completely legal business front to get a massage for neck or back pain. Claims he is getting treated for that. The police are targeting said legal business for sex trafficking which is who the police are actually targeting in the first place. The billionaire old guy feels he is caught up in a sting for a legal massage and then spends millions diving into all aspects of the case which will be his right under the presumption of innocence. Any mistakes uncovered by this person could jeopardize the actual target investigation. Is that really worth it? Maybe but I doubt the city will really want to go down that path.

None of this means he didn't get a happy ending from his massage but then again given we really do not know the intent of the city, Kraft might want to know all of this as he fights to clear his name.

There is an equal chance the city will also want this to go away and may not ultimately want the press of a tiger by the tail so to speak with more disposable resources to wage a legal war than they have or are willing to spend for nothing more than a small findable offense.

The vast majority would just pay a fine and move on.

There are 1 million plus prostitutes in the USA. Annual arrests of Prostitutes is between 70,000 and 80,000. When one includes the Johns that figure probably approaches 100,000. Lots of research on this topic which is one reason the push to legalize, tax, and regulate is out there.

This is big news only because of who he is much more than anything he has done.

[thebeast]

Gross. Yet another despicable act. Human yes, i get it. But, c'mon... Isn't he married? Not that it stops a lot of people. And, who are we to judge, but, in reality - if we hold players to a certain standard in representing the NFL shield, it then makes sense that the owners would be held to such a standard. Not sure what will come from this if anything. It is just another reminder of the lack of morals with some in high places. I'm quite interested to see how and how quickly Goodell handles this. I was / am under the impression that Goodell and R.Kraft were buddies.

He is a widower, he isn't currently married.

[ArrylT]

Now mentioned on NFL.com

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... licitation

[Orenthal Shames]

Hope the old guy had fun!

we finally agree on something!

[Ice]

Hope the old guy had fun!

we finally agree on something!

[Orenthal Shames]

Hope the old guy had fun!

we finally agree on something!

This story really rubs me the wrong way

[Nanananananana]

Hopefully this leads to a bigger investigation and they can finally figure out how Kraft is paying Brady under the table. It’s so ridiculous to think that the best quarterback of all time is being paid half what Kirk cousins is being paid per year, such nonsense.

Cheaters gonna cheat

[DinoDynasty]

Apparently all individuals charged were caught on camera.

For all our sake let's hope that never gets released.