MINNEAPOLIS — Opening statements are kicking off the start of the Anton Lazzaro sex trafficking trial Wednesday, with his accused co-conspirator and alleged victims scheduled to take the stand.
Lazzaro is a wealthy former GOP Strategist whose co-defendant Gisela Castro Medina has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. Prosecutors say Lazzaro met Castro Medina through a "sugar daddy" website, and then worked with her to recruit teen girls who were "broken" - young, small and vulnerable - to have sex with him.
For his part, the defendant maintains that the sex was consensual and that he didn't pay the teens, but instead provided generous gifts. Lazzaro also claims that his prosecution is politically-motivated, as his condo was raided and he was arrested while he was conducting his own investigation into a past marriage of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
On Tuesday a federal jury of nine women and seven men was seated, setting the stage for the high-profile trial to get underway.
Editor's note: The latest developments appear below. Scroll down for earlier updates.
11:00 a.m.
Dr. Sharon Cooper was the first witness called as the prosecution began constructing its case. She is considered an expert on the sex trafficking of minors.
Cooper testified for approximately an hour on things she commonly sees in teen sex trafficking victims. She told jurors the more adverse childhood experiences someone has, the more likely they are to fall victim to a trafficker. The doctor also discussed how the bodies of girls are sexually mature by age 13 or 14, but the mind is not fully developed and brains usually don't have the capability of understanding risk and consequence.
Prosecutors asked Dr. Cooper about drug and alcohol being used to control young victims. She told the panel about the "compliant victim" which is common with wealthy traffickers who don't physically harm or threaten, but groom victims with money. The doctor also told jurors that she sees sugar daddy-type websites used in sex trafficking cases, including those involving minors.
KARE 11's Lou Raguse was in the courtroom for this morning's testimony. He says Dr. Cooper's testimony was meant to reinforce the idea that girls can look confident, in charge and like they're acting on their own will when they are actually being trafficked.
In opening statements Lazzaro's defense team told jurors they will call witnesses who will testify the alleged victims were seen laughing and looked confident, not afraid before and after their encounters with him.
10:30 a.m.
Defense attorney Thomas Beito made the opening presentation for Lazzaro's team. He immediately attempted to cast doubt on one of the victims who will testify, telling jurors she had a serious drug problem.
"So-called Victim A had a problem. She was addicted to drugs. Hard drugs," Beito insisted. "Ketamine, cocaine, meth, fentanyl. Drugs are expensive. She was broke. She needed money. What is a street-smart, savvy young lady to do?"
The defense says the then-16-year-old came up with the idea to create a profile on a sugar daddy website. Beito says the girl eventually ended up blackmailing Lazzaro and Castro Medina, committing extortion and other violations of state and federal law to obtain money. He denied the defendant recruited anyone, saying Castro Medina simply sent pictures of Lazzaro to social media friends.
Beito then turned his attention to Lazzaro's past and how he got his money, describing how the defendant grew up in southern California without a father. He told jurors from his childhood on Lazzaro had a head for business, buying and selling items on Ebay, starting an internet business referral company and eventually investing in real estate and foreign currency.
"He was very successful. That's why he has the wealth the government can't stop talking about. It's the American Dream," Beito said.
His attorney told the courtroom that Lazzaro is socially awkward and while stuck at home during the pandemic started paying people "just to kind of hang out with him. Some he had sex with, most of them he did not," Beito said. He insisted that witnesses will testify that the so-called victims looked confident, not afraid and were not victims of trafficking.
"These young ladies were there because they wanted to be. And at the end of the evidence, you are going to see that Tony is not guilty of trafficking anyone," Beito finished.
The defense then asked Judge Patrick Schiltz for a mistrial due to the prosecution's repeated use of the term "underage girls," and saying "underage girls can't consent."
KARE 11's Lou Raguse says the judge did not grant the motion but appeared unhappy with the prosecution, calling parts of their opening statement "sloppy." Judge Schiltz said he will now have to instruct jurors that it's not unlawful to have sex with a 16-year-old girl, but it is unlawful to recruit a 16-year-old girl to have commercial sex.
Prosecutors told the judge they will be more careful with their word choice.
9:30 a.m.
Prosecutors led off opening statements, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Provinzino addressing jurors. "This case is about a wealthy man who paid tens of thousands of dollars to have sex with teenage girls," Provinzino said.
"He was a man with a desire to have sex with young girls. Underage girls. He used money to buy what he wanted. Used his money to buy sex with these five underage girls," she continued, showing photos of the five teens to the panelists.
Provinzino then showed the jury a picture of his co-defendant Gisela Castro Medina and explained how Lazzaro met her and "Victim A" in May 2020. At the time, prosecutors say, Castro Medina was 18 years old and had just graduated from high school, while Victim A was just 16. They met on a so-called "sugar daddy" website.
KARE 11's Lou Raguse, who has followed the case since its inception, explains from the court that sugar daddy sites connect wealthy older men with women interested in "transactional relationships." Lazzaro allegedly gave Castro Medina "a menu" of sexual activities and what he'd pay for each of them.
Provinzino told jurors that the defendant then made Castro Medina an offer, saying he would pay her to recruit girls for sex. "They should be 16, preferably. Young, skinny. Should be white, ideally. No tattoos. And better if they are vulnerable," Lazzaro reportedly told his accomplice.
Prosecutors allege that over the next six months, Lazzaro paid Castro Medina more than $50,000 after she found girls in St. Michael, Rockford, Loretto, Mound, Robbinsdale, and Minneapolis via her old high school contacts and through Instagram and Snapchat.
"Yo, know any hot girls who want a sugar daddy? Bc mine wants more sugar babies. He's not old and creepy," was one social media message Provinzino read to the jury.
Provinzino then got to what will arguably become the heart of the prosecution's case, telling jurors "It doesn't matter if they (the teens) said yes. Minors cannot consent, period. He was both the trafficker and the consumer."
The prosecution detailed Lazzaro's alleged interactions with the victims, as young as 15 years old. One was reportedly picked up by Uber at a slumber party, another was allegedly bribed with a $1,400 purse from MOA. Provinzino says the teens were plied with alcohol, allowed to hold the defendant's guns, and one given the so-called "morning after" abortion pill.
She finished by telling the jury panel that Castro Medina is cooperating with the government, hoping for a reduced sentence in return for truthful testimony in this case. Other prosecution witnesses will include cell phone analysts, a sex trafficking expert, a cab driver and the clerk at the upscale Ivy Hotel, where Lazzaro lived.
"The evidence will be clear and overwhelming. He paid Gisella to serve these girls up. Then he paid these girls for sex," Provinzino insisted. "That's a crime. At the end of this trial, we will ask for the only just and fair verdict. That the defendant, Anton Joseph Lazzaro, is guilty on all counts."
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