Stage set for final arguments in Anton Lazzaro's child sex trafficking trial

Prosecutors say alleged victims and their families plan to watch closing arguments Friday to wrap up the two-week federal child sex trafficking trial of Anton Lazzaro before a jury in Minneapolis decides the 32-year-old's fate.

Testimony in the case ended Thursday with the conclusion of Lazzaro's defense against the charges, which included additional sparring with prosecutors and brief remarks from a pair of character witnesses.

Lazzaro gave testimony that spanned a full day of court Wednesday and parts of Tuesday and Thursday. He began Thursday by taking less than a half-hour of follow-up questions from his attorney, Daniel Gerdts, in response to hours of cross-examination by the prosecution a day earlier.

Lazzaro, a once-rising Republican donor in Minneapolis, is standing trial on one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor and five counts of child sex trafficking associated with separate alleged victims ages 15 and 16. He has been in federal custody since his August 2021 arrest on charges that outline a conspiracy to recruit and pay girls for sex in 2020.

His co-defendant, Gisela Castro Medina, 21, has pleaded guilty and testified against the man who she said first paid her for sex before asking her to recruit other teen girls for him to pay for sex. Castro Medina is now awaiting sentencing in August.

Lazzaro and his defense team trained much of their focus Thursday on new evidence delivered this week by Charles Bittman, an estranged business associate who turned over to the government photos and videos of minor teen girls sent to him by Lazzaro. Bittman also shared WhatsApp messaging exchanges between the two men.

Gerdts at one point referred to a photo of three young women or girls — one of whom is an alleged victim who was 16 at the time — lined up facedown on Lazzaro's bed as they wore lingerie. Prosecutors redacted the photo to cover the girls' lower bodies.

"Do they have clothing on?" Gerdts asked, later adding: "Nobody's naked. Nobody's naked."

Of the repeat references during the trial to Lazzaro serving underage girls high-proof grain alcohol, Gerdts prompted his client to agree with a smirk that many alcoholic beverages, including beer, were fermented from grain.

Under cross-examination later Thursday, Lazzaro conceded that grain alcohol such as Everclear — which can range in alcohol content from 60% to 95% by volume — was stronger than beer. Lazzaro disputed testimony from witnesses that one alleged victim had become so intoxicated that Lazzaro had to roll her over for sex.

Lazzaro described Bittman as someone he hired to work for him as a favor to a mutual friend. He said he fired Bittman in 2021 and alleged that Bittman made a fraudulent title on one of his properties and sold it illegally. Lazzaro testified that he and Bittman are engaged in a civil dispute in Idaho.

In one roughly 3 a.m. WhatsApp exchange between the two in 2020, Lazzaro appeared to lament how long it took to get a woman he met at a strip club to come to his 19th-floor Hotel Ivy condo in downtown Minneapolis.

"See why I use gisela/recruiters/SA," he wrote," using what he confirmed to the jury was shorthand for the Seeking Arrangement "sugar daddy" dating site. "Saves HOURS and HOURS."

"You trusted him with your deepest, darkest secrets, didn't you?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Melinda Williams asked Lazzaro on Thursday.

"These aren't my deepest, darkest secrets," he responded.

"These aren't your deepest, darkest secrets?" Williams said.

"No, we're in federal court right now," Lazzaro said.

"That's what I thought," Williams replied.

Lazzaro testified that he knew some of the girls he had sex with were under 18. He denied paying them for sex, but has instead described himself as generous with cash and other gifts.

Lazzaro's defense concluded Thursday morning with brief testimony from two character witnesses. The first, a man from Springfield, Ill., met Lazzaro online because of their shared affinity for trains. The second, a retired carpenter from Rapid City, S.D., struck up a friendship with Lazzaro after repairing a desk broken during a move to that city years ago.

Both men's testimony spanned fewer than five minutes apiece and ended with both of them calling their long-distance friend "very generous" and "overly generous." But Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz halted testimony from each when it veered beyond the parameters of testimony allowed by character witnesses.

During an afternoon hearing to finalize jury instructions, Schiltz allowed both the prosecution and defense to have 75 minutes to make their final arguments on Friday.

Schiltz predicted that the jury would break for lunch before it starts deliberating about 1:30 or 2 p.m.

Jurors must also determine forfeiture in the case if they convict Lazzaro. Schiltz said he would call the jury back early next week to do so if guilty verdicts were returned late Friday, adding: "It's just not realistic to think that they come back early afternoon" with a verdict.