Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin spoke at a Sports Business Journal conference on Wednesday night, and predictably Robert Kraft's solicitation of prostitution case became a topic of conversation.
Rubin, a close friend of Kraft's, was asked to share his thoughts on what the Patriots owner has been going through and responded with a critique of the Jupiter, Fla. police and the judicial system as a whole.
"I try to find a positive in every negative," Rubin said. "And 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 you thought that they were going to be. You're talking about a guy who it was proven, a month ago, you see all the media talk is about sex trafficking: The whole thing is made up by law enforcement. There was no sex trafficking. It's a lie. They're not even trying to prove it, they've given up, no one's been charged, there was no sex trafficking.
"He was illegally videoed, he was illegally pulled over, and now [Kraft]'s like, ‘Man, I get what our players go through when they get pulled over and they're discriminated against.' I think it's been eye-opening for him. He was, to be honest, like me. A year and a half ago, I thought the criminal justice system worked perfectly in 99.9 percent of situations. Today, I recognize it doesn't work well in most of the situations. And not because they're bad people, but because the system is fundamentally broken."
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Hear everything Rubin had to say below:
.@MichaelGRubin shares his thoughts on Robert Kraft. #sbjwcs pic.twitter.com/sUZyPFaZes — Sports Business Journal (@sbjsbd) April 3, 2019
Rubin and Kraft both are founding members of rapper Meek Mills "Reform Alliance," which aims to change state probation and parole laws.
Kraft waived his arraignment last week and requested a jury trial. Several media organizations, including The Boston Globe, have filed motions to oppose Kraft's protective order of the video evidence of the alleged acts. Kraft's attorneys say police used a fake bomb threat to obtain the videotapes.
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