Judge rules video of Patriots owner Robert Kraft in massage parlor be destroyed
The police videos, taken in a 2019 prostitution sting operation that saw Kraft and several others arrested, were deemed unlawful last year.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft scored another victory in court last week after a judge ordered Friday that secret recordings of him in a Palm Beach County massage parlor be eliminated.
The videos, taken in a 2019 sex-sting operation that saw Kraft and several others arrested, were deemed unlawful late last year.
Because police recorded several men and women who were getting legitimate massages instead of only those trading unlawful sexual services, the impropriety rendered all of the video footage illegal.
“Considering that the Videos never should have been created according to judicial rulings that are binding and conclusive, the Videos should be destroyed so that they can never be subject to any misuse, intentional or otherwise,” wrote Kraft attorneys Frank A. Shepherd, William Burck and Alex Spiro.
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Al Johnson, the chief assistant state attorney in Florida, had no objection to the video being destroyed. He said in December his office “has no interest in maintaining possession of, or releasing to the public, any of the surveillance videos garnered through these prosecutions post-litigation, and never has been so inclined.”
The only barrier to the destruction of the video has been a civil suit by several people who were illegally videotaped. That suit has reportedly been settled.
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A neutral third party will be contracted to oversee the destruction of the video.
Kraft was charged in February 2019 as part of an in-depth investigation into prostitution activities at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. Recordings are rumored to show Kraft and two other men paying for and engaging in sex acts. Kraft pleaded not guilty and fought the case, but he did issue a public apology.
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“I am truly sorry,” Kraft said a month later. “I know I have hurt and disappointed my family, my close friends, my co-workers, our fans, and many others who rightfully hold me to a higher standard.”
Charges against Kraft and the other men filmed in the case were dropped in December.
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