Robert Kraft - What will happen?

[Ken Gargett]

obviously this will depend on whether or not the bloke is found guilty but wondering on the perspective of this from the states.

i know we have members who are mad keen pats fans and others who detest them with an intensity that should really only be reserved for the cowboys. still others, like myself, in the middle (i come from an age when the pats were considered to be the sort of side in the manner one might think of the browns or skins today) who greatly admire what they have achieved. 

given that if guilty, he would seem to have transgressed the NFL rules in a major way, however, the penalties for various offences by guys like richardson, irsay, haslem et al, would suggest a small dint in the chequebook, one he'd probably not even notice, and little more. sponsors may take a different view. i've heard calls for everything from 'the NFL should mind its own business', to loss of all draft picks (i suspect you could do that and they'd still be serious contenders). but it is a different mood in the community these days. 

given the deflategate and that the pats seemingly shoved goodell's face into the dirt at the same time, if any residual resentment, that might emerge, but then again, you have the pats as the most successful franchise of the last 20 years and the current superbowl winners. how much does that impact? 

be interested to hear from fans of pats, non-fans and others as to what the thoughts are. 

 

[Kitchen]

Right now, I am just thinking about the signs this news would have produced at the Super Bowl if it came out a month ago. 

[JGD]

I am a Patriots fan.

They won’t dock them any draft picks. The NFL has always said that punishment is reserved for a transgression that resulted in a competitive advantage (where real or perceived). 

The problem that he’s going to have is that even though he’s charged with a misdemeanor, the fact that the women appear to have been there against their will will make his punishment more severe. It’s important to note that there has been nothing released to suggest that he, or any of the men charged, knew about that fact. However, the knowledge won’t matter to the NFL. 

My guess: six game suspension and $500,000 - $1,000,000 fine. 

The NFL will want to (rightfully) show that they will not take lightly any of their owners being connected to human trafficking (again, even if they didn’t know that fact). 

 

[MD Puffer]

He's very wealthy and can afford the best attorneys.  I'm sure this story will have a happy ending.

[Brian24]

He's very wealthy and can afford the best attorneys.  I'm sure this story will have a happy ending.

I see what you did there. Haha.

[Ken Gargett]

3 minutes ago, MD Puffer said:

He's very wealthy and can afford the best attorneys.  I'm sure this story will have a happy ending.

what owner isn't very wealthy? and the NFL not short of a quid. they'll all have top lawyers. 

i'd agree JGD that they won't lose picks but i think that might be the range of the penalty. will tarnish the pats in a sense (not the football achievements) and certainly kraft himself. 

in a perfect world, kraft would be forced to sell. dan S decides he wants a winning team and so buys the pats (and needless to say, turns them into a trainwreck, probably by sacking belichek and brady and installing yet another gruden brother or son-in-law). to do that, he is forced to sell the skins. who to? who cares? any one of the other 7 billion people on the planet could run the skins more competently. a bloke can dream. 

[Buck14]

I couldn’t care less if a guy wants to frequent a rub and tug...none of my (or your) business. The one element in this discussion that needs further clarification is IF Kraft knew these women were pretty much forced to work against their will. One other thing, you know what I want to see instead of Kraft? How about some wall to wall coverage of the criminals arrested for trafficking the women? I haven't seen one second of film on that.

Predictions

1. $250,000

2. Four games

3. Kraft will die before 2020 Superbowl (get him in your dead pools NOW!)

[Astar20]

Well if he knew what was going on then the right thing to do would be to make him sell the team along with some fines and time in jail but i dont see any of this happening.

[cigaraholic]

I believe Robert has already put in a call to Alex Acosta

[JGD]

1 minute ago, Astar20 said:

Well if he knew what was going on then the right thing to do would be to make him sell the team along with some fines and time in jail but i dont see any of this happening.

There’s simply no scenario that he will be forced to sell the team. 

If he knew what was going on I would fully expect for him to be banned for life. As a result of that his son Jonathan would take over the team. 

[MooseAMuffin]

I don't think anything but embarrassment will come from this. What im most excited about is that his lawyers said that he "categorically" denies any illegal activity, while the police said they have video evidence of him engaging in the activity. Someone is lying. And if it turns out to be Kraft lying, does the NFL come down hard on him? 

Being a billionaire, why not go to Vegas where it's legal? You have plenty of money to ensure anonymity. And if gets out, at least you're not facing charges.

Unless...maybe frugality is what made him rich.?

[El Hoze]

I had lunch literally right around the corner from the place in Jupiter Kraft went to just on Saturday. There were two other pretty big time Wall Street guys caught up in this as well. One the former president of Citigroup, one a big time private equity guy. I am certainly no angel by a longshot but I am always shocked that guys like this would be going to a rub and tug on the corner of Indiantown Road and Federal Hwy. 

[kuma]

Well if it was good for Samson then it must be ok for Kraft.  I heard the rest of the NFL owners each threw money into a hat

and hired a camera crew to flim the room where Kraft would be in when he got his groove on.  The NFL owners were tired of his team

winning all of the time and knew they had to find a way to stop it.  Boom oldest trick in the book and he got snagged.

[SCgarman]

3 hours ago, MD Puffer said:

He's very wealthy and can afford the best attorneys.  I'm sure this story will have a happy ending.

Well it already has, at least twice and the police have camera footage of the endings taking place.

[SCgarman]

1 hour ago, MooseAMuffin said:

I don't think anything but embarrassment will come from this. What im most excited about is that his lawyers said that he "categorically" denies any illegal activity, while the police said they have video evidence of him engaging in the activity. Someone is lying. And if it turns out to be Kraft lying, does the NFL come down hard on him? 

Being a billionaire, why not go to Vegas where it's legal? You have plenty of money to ensure anonymity. And if gets out, at least you're not facing charges.

Unless...maybe frugality is what made him rich.?

Since when is it "legal" in Vegas? hogwash. Perhaps the cops just don't enforce the laws there. Money talks. 

[Chef]

Call me a skeptic, but I don’t think much will come of it.  Interested to see how this is handled by LE, the league, and the court of public opinion. 

[MooseAMuffin]

47 minutes ago, NYgarman said:

Since when is it "legal" in Vegas? hogwash. Perhaps the cops just don't enforce the laws there. Money talks. 

Sorry, parts of Nevada, not Vegas. Point is, there are places where it's legal and he has plenty of money to get there and use the legal service.

[MountainMilG]

I don’t think it’ll happen here, but remember they made Richardson sell the Panthers. 

I bet 1 million dollar fine and Jonathan takes over 

[SirVantes]

So...illegal motion...flexbone...shotgun?

[Ken Gargett]

15 minutes ago, MountainMilG said:

I don’t think it’ll happen here, but remember they made Richardson sell the Panthers. 

I bet 1 million dollar fine and Jonathan takes over 

did they really make him? he had certain allegations levelled at himself but when he announced the sale, there was no investigation that was anywhere but in its earliest stages. i think it will be hefty fine, banned from involvement for 6-8 games and eternal embarrassment. and a very good chance that the son does take a much higher level of responsibility, if not complete control, but that is decided in-house. 

[Shelby07]

Several years ago I and another tech were installing a voice mail system in Foxboro stadium. It was late, about 11:30 and no one was around. Robert Kraft walked into the room and asked if we needed anything. He even offered to go and grab some food for us. He was a genuinely nice guy. I don’t know the details of what happened, but I hope he comes out if it ok.  

[Ken Gargett]

51 minutes ago, Shelby07 said:

Several years ago I and another tech were installing a voice mail system in Foxboro stadium. It was late, about 11:30 and no one was around. Robert Kraft walked into the room and asked if we needed anything. He even offered to go and grab some food for us. He was a genuinely nice guy. I don’t know the details of what happened, but I hope he comes out if it ok.  

he has always come across as such and of all the owners, he seems one of the least likely to be caught up in something like this. but you never really know people. and i guess being a nice guy does not exclude such actions anyway. 

[Orion21]

If the details come out and the girls who were “working” in that place were found to be victims of humans trafficking he should be expelled from the league. I do t care how nice he may or may not be. If he was supporting a human trafficking operation he should resign or be banned for life. 

Let it play out. I have a suspicion this is going to get really bad very quick. 

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, Orion21 said:

If the details come out and the girls who were “working” in that place were found to be victims of humans trafficking he should be expelled from the league. I do t care how nice he may or may not be. If he was supporting a human trafficking operation he should resign or be banned for life. 

Let it play out. I have a suspicion this is going to get really bad very quick. 

i certainly didn't mean to suggest that being nice should in any way be mitigation and apols if i did give that impression. 

[Orion21]

1 minute ago, Ken Gargett said:

i certainly didn't mean to suggest that being nice should in any way be mitigation and apols if i did give that impression. 

No Ken, I didn’t take it that way at all, so no apologies necessary! I was referring to another post where he brought the workers food and was wished well. 

My cousins husband works for the FBI. Through his work he has indirectly come into contact with these operations. What these girl go through is beyond comprehension. If Kraft was indirectly supporting this activity he should suffer the harshest penalty. 

Criminally his penalty will be a slap on the wrist. Most likely a plea and a fine.