GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Editor's note: The video above first aired Sept. 7, 2021.
A new motions hearing has been set for November in the case of former GOP strategist Anton Lazzaro, pushing his trial date back from October.
Court filings show motions will be presented before Judge David T. Schultz in U.S. District Court on Nov. 16. The trial was previously scheduled to begin Oct. 18.
Lazzaro is charged with 10 federal sex trafficking crimes for allegedly recruiting six minors to engage in commercial sex acts. In recent days, an alleged victim of Lazzaro's filed a lawsuit accusing him of beginning a sexual relationship with her when she was only 16.
The lawsuit says Lazzaro's co-defendant, 19-year-old Gisela Castro Medina, began a friendship with the alleged victim in 2018 when she was 14 years old, and introduced her to Lazzaro in 2020 when she was 16. The suit says Lazzaro began grooming the teen, and alleges he would send cars to pick the girl up so the two could engage in sex acts at his residence between May and July of that year.
Lazzaro has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, and his attorney, Zachary Newland, said in a statement that he believes the motivation behind the accuser's lawsuit is "greed."
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A new trial date for Lazzaro has not yet been set.