Alleged sex videos of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft won’t be released — at least not yet.
Kraft, 77, a billionaire who lives in Massachusetts and has a home in Palm Beach, was recently ensnared in a prostitution investigation at the Orchids of Asia massage parlor. It’s where Jupiter police say they used hidden cameras to record dozens of men taking off their clothes and receiving sexual services.
Kraft, who this week pleaded not guilty to soliciting prostitution, is accused of paying for sex acts at the parlor, the night before and morning of the Jan. 20 AFC Championship game. He then flew to Kansas City, where he saw his team beat the Chiefs.
Typically, these types of undercover videos wouldn’t become public until after the defendants’ lawyers have requested such evidence from the state in preparation for trial, legal experts say.
Prosecutors don’t have Jupiter police’s videos yet, said Michael Edmondson, spokesman for the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office. In such cases, it’s up to each police agency to decide “what they actually do” with the footage before a case heads to trial, he said.
In recent weeks, multiple agencies have detailed their investigations into prostitution and human trafficking at 10 spas from Jupiter to Martin County to Orlando. The spas were shut down and several people, mostly women originally from China, were charged with running the operations.
While two dozen men face charges in the Jupiter case, hundreds more are being charged in connection with the other spas, authorities said.
Lawyers for some of the defendants oppose the videos’ release, filing court motions last week to try to block the public from seeing them. They’re arguing their clients were captured on camera without their consent, unaware they were being recorded.
Richard Kibbey, a Stuart-based lawyer representing some of the defendants, wants to halt any footage of the defendants from being released in both Palm Beach and Martin counties. That request is pending.
He called it a “personal victory” that Jupiter police don’t plan to make the videos public.
Kraft is requesting a non-jury trial to address two misdemeanor counts, according to recently released court documents. The paperwork was filed Tuesday by Kraft’s attorney, Jack Goldberger.
Goldberger couldn’t be reached Thursday despite a request for comment left at his office. In a statement last week, a spokesperson for Kraft said they “categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity.”
At a news conference last Friday, Jupiter police handed out the list of the names of the men accused, adding that Kraft and the others all were caught on video engaging in illicit acts.
“The videos that we obtained, it shows the acts that took place on every gentleman you have a list of, the acts that took place is recorded on that video,” Jupiter Police Detective Andrew Sharp told reporters at the time. Police confirmed obtaining the footage, in part, after placing cameras inside the business for their investigation.