MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A previously well-connected GOP donor convicted of giving teenage women presents, alcohol and cash in trade for intercourse was once sentenced Wednesday to 21 years in jail on intercourse trafficking fees.
Anton “Tony” Lazzaro was once discovered in charge in March by way of a federal jury of 7 counts involving “business intercourse acts” with 5 women ages 15 and 16 in 2020, when Lazzaro was once 30. The costs carried obligatory minimal sentences of 10 years with a most of existence in jail.
Prosecutors had asked a 30-year sentence for Lazzaro. They likened Lazzaro to financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was once arrested in 2019 on federal fees accusing him of paying underage women for massages after which abusing them at his properties in Florida and New York. The protection requested for not more than 10 years.
“He’s a intercourse trafficker,” prosecutor Laura Provinzino mentioned. “Person who has proven completely no regret. He has authorised no accountability for his crimes.”
U.S. District Pass judgement on Patrick Schiltz got here down within the heart and had harsh phrases for Lazzaro.
He mentioned Lazzaro confirmed sympathy to simply two other people all through the trial — “to himself and Jeffrey Epstein.” And the pass judgement on mentioned he was once struck by way of the “soulless, virtually mechanical nature” of the way Lazzaro exploited the women.
“It’s virtually as though Mr. Lazzaro arrange a intercourse trafficking meeting line,” Schiltz mentioned.
Probably the most sufferers known as Lazzaro a kid predator in court docket Wednesday and mentioned she remains to be impacted by way of his movements.
“I nonetheless see him in my nightmares, in my panic assaults, in males of their thirties. … Placing Tony at the back of bars will save such a lot of women,” she mentioned.
The mummy of a special sufferer addressed Lazzaro immediately.
“The wear you led to my daughter, mentally and emotionally, you didn’t simply purpose that harm to her. You led to it to me and my circle of relatives and most of these sufferers and all in their households,” she mentioned. “You get up right here and also you don’t even care. You’re justifying your movements. … I am hoping you rot in hell.”
The Related Press does no longer in most cases identify sufferers of intercourse crimes.
Lazzaro, who has mentioned the costs in opposition to him have been politically motivated, maintained his innocence, denying that he paid any of the women explicitly for intercourse.
“I take a large number of offense to the federal government and court docket’s perception that I perjured myself on this trial. … Grooming conduct is the phrase you used,” he mentioned. “If that’s the case, then I guess someone who offers any individual a present, whether or not or not it’s an affordable present or one million greenbacks, is grooming their better half for intercourse. OK? If that’s the usual that we’re going to use, then I don’t understand how there’s any same old to use.”
Protection lawyer Daniel Gerdts mentioned in a while that they have been “taking a look ahead to the enchantment.”
Lazzaro’s indictment in 2021 touched off a political firestorm that resulted in the downfall of Jennifer Carnahan as chair of the Republican Birthday celebration of Minnesota.
His co-defendant, Gisela Castro Medina, who was once 19 on the time, previously led the Faculty Republicans bankruptcy on the College of St. Thomas. She pleaded in charge to 2 counts closing 12 months. She testified in opposition to Lazzaro and faces sentencing in September.
Prosecutors argued all through his trial that Lazzaro enlisted Castro Medina, who he first of all paid for intercourse, to recruit different youngsters — ideally minors — who have been white, small, susceptible or “damaged.” He frequently despatched automobiles to take the women to his luxurious penthouse condominium on the Lodge Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, they mentioned.
Gerdts had argued that the federal government’s “salacious” prosecution was once in accordance with “totally unfounded” allegations. Lazzaro has denied paying for intercourse, pronouncing the federal government focused him for political causes and as a result of his wealth.
Carnahan, the widow of U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, of Minnesota, resigned every week after the costs in opposition to Lazzaro have been unsealed. She denied realizing of any wrongdoing by way of Lazzaro previously and condemned his alleged crimes. However his arrest fueled outrage amongst celebration activists. Allegations surfaced that Carnahan created a poisonous paintings atmosphere and abused nondisclosure agreements to silence her critics.
Carnahan and Lazzaro was pals when she ran unsuccessfully for a legislative seat in 2016. He subsidized her bid to grow to be celebration chair in 2017 and attended her 2018 wedding ceremony to Hagedorn. They hosted a podcast in combination for a couple of months.
Lazzaro additionally helped run the marketing campaign of Republican Lacy Johnson, who didn’t unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota, in 2020.
Footage on Lazzaro’s social media accounts confirmed him with distinguished Republicans, together with former President Donald Trump and previous Vice President Mike Pence. He gave greater than $270,000 to Republican campaigns and political committees through the years.
A number of recipients temporarily donated the ones contributions to charity after the costs was public, together with U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, of Minnesota, who gained $15,600 however suffered no repercussions. Emmer was majority whip in January.
The assets of Lazzaro’s wealth were murky. Protection filings have known as him “an up-and-coming actual property proprietor and entrepreneur.” Pieces seized from him integrated a 2010 Ferrari and greater than $371,000 in money. The federal government put his web price in a bond record at greater than $2 million however mentioned its calculations didn’t come with his “intensive” however hard-to-trace cryptocurrency holdings. It famous that the hunt yielded more than one varieties of foreign currencies, plus valuable metals price greater than $500,000.
___
Trisha Ahmed is a corps member for the Related Press/Document for The united states Statehouse Information Initiative. Document for The united states is a nonprofit nationwide carrier program that puts reporters in native newsrooms to record on under-covered problems. Observe Trisha Ahmed on Twitter: @TrishaAhmed15