New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was among those charged in a sting on a series of Florida spas allegedly involved in a human trafficking ring. Kraft faced two charges of soliciting prostitution in the sting, and while the Patriots owner pled not guilty to the charges, authorities claim they possess graphic evidence Kraft went to the spa, including on the day New England took down the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game.
Information about the spa at the center of all this — Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla. — and the general chain of spas involved in this sting, are sparse. But a new report from the Miami Herald does provide some background into the founder of the spa and her connections to the Trump family and other prominent Republicans in the state, even after she sold Orchids of Asia.
Li Yang, a described “self-made entrepreneur from China who started a chain of Asian day spas in South Florida,” attended Donald Trump’s Super Bowl Watch Party in West Palm Beach, snapping a selfie with the President of the United States.
President Donald Trump cheered Robert Kraft’s team to Super Bowl victory with founder of spa where he was bustedhttps://t.co/jnpu9C5nc7 pic.twitter.com/fh24lauX0P
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) March 8, 2019
It wasn’t the only time Yang had met Trump, as the Miami Herald found an autographed picture of her with the president in March of 2018.
Beyond Trump, images exist of Yang with Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, along with Florida governor Rick DeSantis and the state’s junior senator/former governor, Rick Scott.
https://twitter.com/travisakers/status/1104059750956892160
The Herald indicates that Yang has recently become a fixture in the Republican Party in the state despite an apparent lack of political involvement prior to the 2016 election. Yang has reportedly offered financial support to the party — “Since 2017, she and her close relatives have contributed more than $42,000 to Trump Victory, a political action committee, and more than $16,000 to the president’s campaign,” the report reads — and has been involved in multiple Washington, D.C.-based events in the last year, including an event at the White House in Feb. 2018.
As for Yang’s history with the now-infamous day spas, she began opening the local chain called Tokyo Day Spas in 2007, starting with one in Palm Beach Gardens that is still open and run by her husband. As for the spa that was later re-named Orchids of Asia, she sold it in 2013, but The Herald reports there may have been nefarious activity at that location long before the recent sting occurred.
The next was a Tokyo Day Spa in Jupiter that would later become Orchids of Asia after Yang sold it to another businesswoman, Hua Zhang, around 2013. Zhang, who was charged in February with racketeering and running a house of prostitution and has pleaded not guilty, declined to comment when contacted at her Martin County home.
Online reviews from prior to 2013 suggest sex was for sale at the Tokyo Day Spa Jupiter location even before it became Orchids of Asia. Although the name and ownership of the location have changed, the decor has not. A photo from a Tokyo Day Spa Yelp review shows the same couch, the same wall hanging and the same faux plant as now.
“Used to be known as Tokyo Day Spa and Massage — most of the same girls still work there,” a Yelp reviewer wrote of Orchids of Asia in 2013.
When asked about the sting, Yang reportedly claimed she didn’t break the law, but didn’t answer when asked “whether she knew of the allegations that therapists in her spas were offering sex.”
(Via Miami Herald)
