Former GOP donor sentenced to 21 years in prison for sex trafficking minors

Anton “Tony” Lazzaro, a former GOP donor and Big Tent PAC director, has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for sex trafficking minors in Minnesota.

In March, a federal jury found Lazzaro guilty on seven counts of “commercial sex acts” with five different girls between the ages of 15 and 16. Lazzaro was 30 years old at the time of the abuse, and prosecutors compared his actions to that of infamous alleged sex trafficking menace Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. District Judge Patrick Schlitz said that Lazzaro showed sympathy to just two people during his trial, “himself and Jeffrey Epstein. It’s almost as if Mr. Lazzaro set up a sex trafficking assembly line.”

Lazzaro defended himself by saying the charges against him were politically motivated, and he argued semantics on the stand to justify his actions.

“I take a lot of offense to the government and court’s notion that I perjured myself in this trial. Grooming behavior is the word you used,” he said. “If that’s the case, then I suppose anyone who gives someone a gift, whether it be a cheap gift or a million dollars, is grooming their companion for sex. OK?”

Lazzaro was first indicted in 2021, and his crimes at the time resulted in his friend Jennifer Carnahan stepping down as the chair of the Minnesota Republican Party. The pair hosted a podcast called “Truth Matters,” and Carnahan at one time described Lazzaro as “one of the biggest advocates and champions in the Republican Party of Minnesota.”