Michael Rubin: Robert Kraft Seeing What It's Like to Be NFL Player After Charges

Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils owner Michael Rubin said Wednesday that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft now has a better appreciation for what NFL players go through after being charged with two counts of misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution.

According to Nicole Yang of Boston.com, Rubin said he has spoken with Kraft about the change in perspective: 

"I think the biggest thing that I've talked to Robert about every day these days is he's finally seeing what it's like to be a player in the NFL and a player in the NBA when you have experiences with law enforcement that aren't the way that you thought that they were going to be.

"Now, Robert's like, 'Man, I get what our players go through when they get pulled over and they're discriminated against.' To be honest, he was like me. A year and a half ago, I thought the criminal justice system worked perfectly in 99.9 percent of the situations. Today, I recognize it doesn't work well in most of the situations—not because they're bad people but because the system is fundamentally broken."

Kraft is facing a pair of solicitation charges after it was alleged that he was caught on video paying for sexual acts on two occasions at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida, in January.

Rubin added that he believes there is more to the story than has been revealed: "I think a lot of the true details will come out over time and won't be as people believe. I think the great thing with Robert is that he'll figure out how to make the country and the world a better place as a result of what he's gone through."

After the charges against Kraft were announced in February, his spokesperson said they "categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity."

Kraft then apologized in a statement he released on March 23:

According to Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal, the 77-year-old Kraft was offered a deal that would have seen the charges dropped in exchange for him admitting he would have been found guilty at trial. He also would have been required to complete an education course about prostitution, 100 hours of community service and undergo screening for sexually transmitted diseases.

Instead, Kraft has requested a jury trial. As part of that trial, he and his legal team have called for the video obtained from Orchids of Asia Day Spa to be thrown out as potential evidence.

As part of the motion he filed to get the evidence thrown out, Kraft wrote: "Florida resorted to the most drastic, invasive, indiscriminate spying conceivable by law enforcement—taking continuous video recordings of private massages in which customers would be stripping naked as a matter of course—in order to prosecute what are at most misdemeanor offenses."

Kraft added that police were trying to "build a solicitation case around low-level consensual sex acts."

A Friday deadline has been set for Kraft to officially accept or decline the diversion program offered to him by prosecutors.