Republican Campaign Manager Recruited Six Underage Girls Into Sex Trafficking, Prostitution

A notable strategist has been charged on Thursday, Aug. 12, with soliciting sex acts from minors in another case of a high-position Republican being involved in a sex scandal with underage girls.

Anton Joseph Lazzaro, a 30-year-old man who also goes by Tony Lazzaro, has been charged with sex trafficking five minors and the attempted sex trafficking of one to do commercial sex acts for him, a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release reported

Lazzaro allegedly recruited five young girls between May and December of last year for paid sexual intercourse while attempting to get a sixth young girl to have sexual relations with him, the Daily Beast reported.

Lazzaro has been under investigation for a while, with his condo being searched and raided by the FBI in mid-December to find evidence pertaining to the sex trafficking in question. At the time, Lazzaro denied any wrongdoing to warrant such a response.

“There's no charges, no case, nothing political,” he said to reporters.

Lazzaro’s attorney, Zachary L. Newland, stated that the charges are untrue: “I think he's innocent. They don't have a provable case here.”

A possible serial sex offender, authorities believe that Lazzaro has had other victims that have yet to come forward, and is asking these unknown number of victims to seeks help from authorities, CBS affiliate WCCO reported.

Lazzaro is a wealthy political strategist for the Republican party whose claim to fame is supporting Lacy Johnson in a failed attempt to unseat Minnesotan Representative Ilhan Omar in the 2020 elections.

He has a political action committee, Big Tent Republicans PAC, that aims to “redefine the Republican Party specifically to minority, LGBT, and women.”

Lazzaro is the second Republican to have a sex trafficking scandal this year after it came to light in March 2021 that Florida Representative Matt Gaetz is under investigation for sex trafficking a minor and paying for her to cross state lines.

“There's nothing to this case. It's not some Matt Gaetz or whatever you think this is,” Lazzaro stated in July before the arrest.