Here are the major executives who were caught in Florida’s massage parlor prostitution sting – By David Choi and Michelle Mark (Business Insider) / Feb 24 2019
A six-month human-trafficking and prostitution sting in massage parlors across Florida yielded hundreds of arrest warrants, including several from the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter where at least two business executives were charged of soliciting a prostitute.
Ten spas have closed since the operation that stretched from Palm Beach to Orlando, according to the Associated Press. Cameras inside and outside the businesses were reportedly planted in the operation, with videotapes revealing some of the defendants committing sexual acts.
News reports suggest that although a high-profile executive like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was implicated in the sting operation, there were more revelations to come.
“There are people down there in that area, I’m told, who say that this story is going to heat up and get a lot worse,” ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter said Friday.
“I’m also told that Robert Kraft is not the biggest name involved down there in South Florida,” Schefter added.
First-time offenders charged with solicitation are typically permitted to enroll in a diversion program and serve 100 hours of community service, a former prosecutor told the Associated Press.
Here are the executives who have been charged in Florida’s prostitution sting:
Robert Kraft, New England Patriots owner
Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
Seventy-seven-year-old Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots with an estimated worth of $6 billion, was reportedly charged with soliciting a prostitute. He was filmed twice in the act at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida.
Kraft denied the charges.
Kraft began dating 39-year-old actress Ricki Lander, one year after his wife, Myra Kraft, died of cancer in 2011. Myra and Kraft were married for 48 years.
“We are as equally stunned as everyone else,” Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerr said to the Associated Press.
Kraft is worth at least $4.36 billion, though it could be as high as $6.6 billion. He owns two-and-a-half paper companies, a shopping mall, an office park, and a soccer team.
Source: INSIDER
John Havens, former president and chief operating officer of Citigroup
Citigroup
John Havens, 62, was also on a list of men who were charged for solicitation of a prostitute. He is best known as Citigroup’s former president and chief operating officer.
Haven was Citigroup’s president in 2011, only to resign a year later, according to Bloomberg. He currently serves as the chairman of Napier Park Global Capital, Citigroup’s former hedge-fund division.
Havens lives in New York, but owns multiple properties in Florida, according to public records. He even has one property in Jupiter, close to the day spa at the center of the human-trafficking investigation.
Havens was “born to wealth,” according to a New York Magazine profile, and likes to hunt birds and golf.
Source: INSIDER
John Childs, founder of private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates
J.W. Childs Associates
John Childs, the 77-year-old founder of private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates, was charged by the Vero Beach Police Department for solicitation of a prostitute.
Childs denied any wrongdoing during an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday.
“I have received no contact by the police department about this charge,” Childs said. “The accusation of solicitation of prostitution is totally false. I have retained a lawyer.”
Since 1995, Childs’ firm have invested around $3.7 billion towards over 50 businesses, according to its website. Childs was responsible for a $77 billion fixed income portfolio with Prudential Insurance Company of America in 1980s, his profile said.
Childs is a major Republican donor who supported GOP candidates in the past such as 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and former House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to opensecrets.org.
He has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion and donated some $4.3 million throughout the last election cycle, according to TCPalm.
Campaign finance records show that Childs gave a whopping $250,000 to America First Action, a superPAC that supports President Donald Trump.
He also donated large sums to the conservative Club for Growth Action superPAC, the Senate Conservative Actions PAC, and the America Rising PAC.
He also backed individual Republicans like Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Montana Sen. Steve Daines, and Indiana Sen. Mike Braun.
Source: INSIDER
