The outside of the ballroom before republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump holds a press conference at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida on March 8, 2016. [RICHARD GRAULICH/palmbeachpost.com] ▲ People check out the exterior of Orchid Asia Spa ▲ FILE-- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft at Super Bowl LIII between the Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams in Atlanta, Feb. 3, 2019. Kraft, 77, was charged with two counts of soliciting sex from a prostitute in early 2019, according to the police in Jupiter, Fla. He was said to have patronized a spa called Orchids of Asia in Jupiter. Detectives in Jupiter said they had videos of Kraft and dozens of other customers involved in sex acts at the spa. [Doug Mills/The New York Times] ▲ A bike rides by the sign of Trump National Golf Club, Nov. 11, 2016 in Jupiter. [YUTING JIANG/palmbeachpost.com] ▲ FILE - In this Feb. 19, 2019, file photo, a sign is posted outside of Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla., one of several spas closed in south Florida as a result of a six-month investigation into sex trafficking. The Florida prostitution sting that ensnared New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is a reminder of the human trafficking and abuse taking place behind the darkened windows of many of these storefronts, and how challenging those problems can be to address. [HANNAH MORSE/Palm Beach Post via AP, File] ▲

On March 29, a group that raises money for the Jupiter Police Department will hold its inaugural gala at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, the same city where Robert Kraft, a friend of the president and the owner of the New England Patriots football team, is alleged to have solicited prostitution at a massage parlor in January.

Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump, told the Palm Beach Post last month he plans to attend the Jupiter Police Foundation's Policeman's Ball. The $500 per ticket black-tie affair is expected to draw 500 guests.

"I think I'm going to go to that," Eric Trump said.

Photos: Orchids of Asia Day Spa investigation — The Palm Beach Post

The Jupiter Police Foundation gala event is taking place amid burgeoning intrigue stemming from the sting at the Orchids of Asia Spa. Not only was Kraft among the dozens of johns charged with solicitation, but now the spa's former owner, Li Yang of Wellington, has appeared in photographs with Trump family members and advisers at Mar-a-Lago on Palm Beach.

Yang sold the massage parlor years ago but is linked to a business, GY US Investments, that sold Chinese executives access to Trump, his family and his advisers, according to reports in The Miami Herald and Mother Jones.

Just last month, Yang attended a party at Mar-a-lago celebrating Trump's second year in office. Yang bought two tickets to the event, said Toni Holt Kramer, co-founder of Trumpettes USA, which hosted the event.

Holt Kramer said she doesn't recall meeting or talking to Yang. But Yang's tickets gained her entry into the VIP reception in the white-and-gold ballroom, where Eric Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross visited with guests and where Yang was photographed with guest of honor, actor Jon Voight, a source said.

Yang held leadership roles in groups linked to the Chinese Communist Party, even mingling in April with top Communist officials at an exclusive conference in China that showcased the nation's leader, the Palm Beach Post reported Tuesday.

Police foundation galas

The Jupiter Police Department joins the Palm Beach Police Department in benefiting from foundations that raise money at Trump properties in their cities. In fact, the Palm Beach Police Foundation has held its annual January gala at Trump's Mar-a-Lago for the past several years.

The foundation events at Trump-owned clubs raise conflict of interest concerns among ethics experts.

"The whole thing reeks to high heaven," said Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration and a board member of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW.

Hosting police foundation events at clubs owned by the president of the United States raises the risk of a quid pro quo that could tilt the police departments' decision-making more favorably toward influential people close to or involved in the Trump administration or its clubs, Painter said. "It's a way to stay in good with the police officers," he said.

The quid pro quo can work the other way, too. For example, the federal government might be more likely to confer favors on a police department that patronized Trump's private business, Painter said.

Efforts to obtain comment from the Palm Beach Police Foundation were unsuccessful.

Jupiter Police Foundation President David Schultz said in January that the foundation chose the Trump property because it is the only venue in Jupiter that can hold 500 guests. The money raised at the March 29 event will help pay for police equipment or community programs that don't receive money from the town's budget, he said. For instance, the police department hosts an annual Shop with a Cop program for needy kids.

The Jupiter Police Foundation dinner dance was arranged with the help of Tony Servideo, who works as general manager of Trump National Golf Club and also serves as a board member of the Jupiter Police Foundation.

Servideo was able to make the club available to the foundation on "good terms," Schultz said. A source familiar with the gala said Trump National isn't charging the police foundation the gala's full cost.

In January, Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerr told the Post he planned to attend the policeman's ball at Trump National and wear a tuxedo to the black-tie affair. Kerr said having an event at a Trump-owned property would have no effect on the way police behave.

"We don't get involved in anything political," Kerr said. "We base our actions on the facts."

Kerr also said the foundation, not the police department, chose the venue.

Schultz said in January that the police foundation was aware of the controversy of holding an event at a Trump-owned property because of people's strong feelings about the president. But he said, "We're prepared to answer questions, if need be."

Schultz was not available for comment for this article. A foundation spokeswoman said the group "is focused on having a successful gala to benefit our charitable cause."

Spa arrests

The Jupiter Police Foundation gala at Trump National is being held one month after investigators raided Orchids of Asia Day Spa on East Indiantown Road in Jupiter, where Kraft and 24 other men were videotaped allegedly engaging in sex acts with the spa's employees.

According to police, Kraft twice paid for sexual services at the spa, a business police say has ties to an international human-trafficking and prostitution ring. One of the visits occurred on the morning of Jan. 20, the day Kraft's football team played in the American Football Conference championship game. Kraft, who owns a home on Palm Beach and frequents Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club, has pleaded not guilty to charges of soliciting prostitution.

The charges stemmed from videotape taken inside the Orchids spa between Jan. 18 and Jan. 22.

The investigation was a joint effort among law enforcement agencies, including the Martin County sheriff's office and Jupiter police. However, while the Martin County sheriff began arresting men accused of soliciting sex at day spas on Wednesday, Feb. 20, Jupiter police waited two more days to announce pending charges against 25 men, including Kraft, who is arguably the most high-profile defendant in the case.

The following Monday, Feb. Feb. 25, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg announced that 25 men, including Kraft, had been charged with soliciting a prostitute. The charge is a second-degree misdemeanor for a first time offense, carrying a jail term of up to 60 days.

A Jupiter police spokeswoman said Kerr was not available for questions about whether he had spoken to anyone in the Trump Organization or the Trump administration prior to the charges being filed against Kraft.

But a Jupiter police spokesman said there was nothing unusual about the delay between the Martin County Sheriff's announcement of the massage parlor investigation and its arrests of 11 men in Martin County, and the Jupiter Police Department's announcement of pending charges involving men who visited the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.

Instead, the lag was due to the Jupiter Police Department's need to complete paperwork for the Palm Beach State Attorney's office, which was working closely with the department to put together all 25 cases, police spokesman O'Neil Anderson said.

"There was no preferential treatment based on who was involved," Anderson said.

Questions of preferential treatment could be avoided if police foundations stopped hosting events where only the rich and powerful can hobnob with law enforcement, CREW's Painter said.

A $500 ticket "is a week's salary," said Paul Wright, vice president of the National Police Accountability Project. "Your retirees aren't going. Your single working parents aren't going. How many people can afford $500 to support their police force even if they were inclined ideologically?"

Access and influence are ongoing issues when it comes to the Trump Organization's for-profit private clubs.

Government watchdogs argue that members and guests eager for a moment with Trump know it's possible at one of his clubs, particularly during the winter when he spends as many weekends as he can at his Florida properties. In Palm Beach, Trump can break free from the constraints of political handlers in Washington and mingle with club members and their guests.

An example illustrating that concern is the U.S. Government Accountability Office's review of the influence of three Mar-a-Lago club members, Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter, physician Bruce Moskowitz and attorney Marc Sherman, in influencing decisions at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

And earlier this month, Pro Publica reported that Trump friend and Mar-a-Lago club member Albert Hazzouri wrote a policy pitch to Trump in 2017 on Mar-a-Lago stationery. The issue regarded dental care for veterans and Native Americans. Trump wrote on the stationery, "Send to David S at the V.A.," referring to David Shulkin, then the secretary of veterans affairs.

Access and influence are the cornerstone of Yang's business, too. The Herald reported Yang made more than $50,000 in political donations to Trump's political action committee and campaign, providing her entry into Trump's inner circle. Yang has posed in Mar-a-Lago photos with the president sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as Florida political figures, including Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In addition, on Feb. 3, Ling was photographed next to the president during a Super Bowl watch party at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

aclough@pbpost.com

@acloughpbp