This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A photo published on Friday in the Miami Herald shows that the founder and one-time owner of a spa implicated in a human-trafficking ring attended Donald Trump’s Super Bowl watch party at his West Palm Beach country club in February.

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While the New England Patriots played the Los Angeles Rams In Atlanta, Li Yang snapped a blurry selfie with a smiling Trump, who turned in his chair to look over his right shoulder. He was seated at a round table decorated with paper-cutout footballs.

Nineteen days later, the Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, 77 and a longtime friend of Trump, was charged with soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in nearby Jupiter. Yang founded the spa more than a decade ago.

Authorities say Kraft visited the spa on 19 January and again on the morning of 20 January and was caught on camera paying for oral sex. He then flew to Kansas City, where his team was playing in the AFC Championship game.

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Kraft has denied the charges. An arraignment is set for 28 March in West Palm Beach.

Yang, who goes by the name Cindy, was not charged in the multiagency anti-human trafficking operation that resulted in 25 arrests and shut down 10 day spas in South Florida.

None of the spas are registered to Yang or her family. She sold the Jupiter spa to Hua Zhang around 2013. Zhang was charged with racketeering and running a house of prostitution and has pleaded not guilty.

Yang’s family still owns several South Florida spas. The family’s Tokyo Day Spa branches have attracted the attention of at least two police agencies, the Herald reported.

Yang told the Herald she and her family had not broken the law. She said she was out of the business, would soon be relocating to Washington, and does not want any negative media attention.

The newspaper reported that Yang did not vote in 10 years before 2016 but has become a fixture at Republican events. Her Facebook page contains photos of her with Trump, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, Senator Rick Scott, Sarah Palin and other Republicans at charity events and fundraisers.

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Records show that since 2017, Yang and close family members have contributed more than $42,000 to Trump Victory, a political action committee, and more than $16,000 to the president’s re-election campaign.

Yang started the Tokyo Day Spas chain in 2007. The first to open is still in business and run by her husband, Zubin Gong, in Palm Beach Gardens. The next was Tokyo Day Spa in Jupiter, which later became Orchids of Asia, the Herald reported.

Around three years ago, Yang announced she was pursuing a “new life” in a series of Facebook posts. This included an investment consulting business, a travel agency and a charity. Yang told the Herald she did not know the president.

“I just come to some events,” she said. “There’s nothing special.”

The White House referred requests for comment to Trump’s political campaign. The campaign didn’t immediately respond.