Prosecutors seeking 30-year sentence for Lazzaro on sex trafficking conviction

Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison term of 30 years for Minneapolis businessman and former Republican Party strategist Anton "Tony" Lazzaro, describing him as a predator whose sexual relations with underage girls caused them serious psychological damage and shattered their families.

Lazzaro, 32, will be sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis by Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, following a two-week trial in March where he was convicted of both conspiracy and five separate counts of recruiting and paying five 14- to 16-year-old girls for sex.

Lazzaro's defense attorneys, who are recommending a 10-year sentence, argue that the girls "were eager and excited about their extremely brief relationships with Mr. Lazzaro." The cash he gave them were gifts, the lawyers say, and not payment for sexual services as the prosecution claims.

Prosecutors counter that Lazzaro "is a dangerous man" who chose physically small and emotionally vulnerable victims he called "broken girls."

"He alternatively impressed them, flattered them, gave them cash and presents, and plied them with alcohol. ... Lazzaro was the hunter and these 14- and 15-year-old girls were the prey," the prosecutors say in their brief.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Minneapolis presented evidence at trial that Lazzaro paid Gisela Castro Medina, then an 18-year-old University of St. Thomas student, to recruit other teen victims.

Castro Medina, now 21, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction charges, and she testified against Lazzaro at his trial. She will be sentenced Sept. 5.

Lazzaro's 2021 arrest embarrassed the Minnesota Republican Party, for which he had become a major donor. Jennifer Carnahan, who had close ties to Lazzaro, stepped down as state GOP chair a week after his arrest. She has denied any knowledge of his criminal activities.

In urging Schiltz to render a stiff sentence, prosecutors say in their brief that Lazzaro praised and emulated Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who was charged with trafficking minors before he committed suicide in 2019.

The prosecution notes that late in the trial, Charles Bittman, Lazzaro's former business associate, came forward with "chilling" text exchanges with Lazzaro, plus photos and videos of the victims he had taken and sent to Bittman.

Perhaps the most disturbing exchange, according to prosecutors, came when "he spirited away" a group of 14- and 15-year-old girls "from a slumber party in the middle of the night, out from under their parents' noses," to his home nearly an hour away.

Bittman sent Lazzaro a message, saying "The package is arriving" and "Send pics of the girls!" Lazzaro responded: "I will try haha … Breaking them in Charles … This is the art ... Of the tart … They are quite lovely I must say."

Lazzaro ended his text exchange with a photo of Epstein captioned "RIP my brother," an apparent reference to Epstein's death.

Prosecutors say Lazzaro also engaged in obstruction, offering money to Castro Medina to lie for him.

"He lied with abandon on the witness stand," they wrote in the brief. "And, of course, at no point has Lazzaro expressed a single shred of remorse."

The government's brief was signed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura Provinzino, Emily Polachek and Melinda A. Williams, along with U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger.

The testimony of the victims at trial and their written impact statements make a case for a for "a very, very long sentence," prosecutors argue.

One girl, identified as "Victim A," told pre-sentence court services staffers: "Everything with the trafficking changed me. It changed everything. I don't trust anyone anymore. I don't know if I ever will." She added that she has developed borderline personality disorder and extreme post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I've tried to commit suicide so many times I have lost count," she said.

Victim A's mother said it was difficult to address the court, given "how broken we are as individuals and a family." She said her daughter had gone from a "once vibrant, smiling, happy, funny, beautiful" girl to someone who is "physically insecure, anxious, self-medicating and suicidal."'

Another girl, identified as "Victim D," said Lazzaro stole her innocence "the second he opened his apartment door." She said she went from being an honor student to failing her classes, and that she locked herself in her bedroom every night to drink herself "into an oblivion" and "numb myself from what he did to me."

Victim D's mother said her daughter "became a shadow of what she used to be in just a few months." But she said she is on the road to recovery, thanks to intensive therapy and treatment, and is now 18 months sober.

"I'm beginning to see glimpses of the girl she used to be," the mother said, though her daughter "still struggles with anxiety and finds it difficult to trust men."

In their brief, Lazzaro's attorneys, Daniel Gerdts of Minneapolis and Steven Kessler of Harrison, N.Y., said they object to all references or assertions in the pre-sentence report that "anybody was a 'victim' in this case." The defense attorneys note that Lazzaro denied he paid for sex.

"While there was indeed an agreement with Castro Medina to assist him in meeting young females (both adult and teens at least 16-years-old) with the hopes of engaging in sexual activity with them, there was no expectation of sex at all, and certainly not commercial sex," they wrote in their brief.

Lazzaro's lawyers say that the minor girls voluntarily participated in sex and that Lazzaro sought relations only with females old enough to consent. "The totality of the conduct contended to be criminal in this case consisted of fewer than a dozen sex acts with five females," they say.

Rick Petry, a former criminal defense attorney and director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said he didn't think Schiltz will agree with the defense contention that the girls engaged in consensual sex.

"One of the girls testified she was given so much alcohol she became unconscious, and notwithstanding that, he still had sex with her," Petry said.

Minneapolis attorney Joe Friedberg, who has represented criminal defendants for more than 50 years but was not involved in this case, said Lazzaro's Republican ties are irrelevant.

"The crimes [Lazzaro] committed are all reprehensible," said Friedberg, and sentencing guidelines would allow Schiltz to sentence him to life in prison. But given that no one was killed, and the girls were not 12 or 13 years old, but slightly older, he speculated that Schiltz will sentence Lazzaro "in the 20-year range."