Connect with us

Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis hotel facing 2nd lawsuit by victim of sex trafficking scheme involving Anton Lazzaro

Published

on

Minneapolis hotel facing 2nd lawsuit by victim of sex trafficking scheme involving Anton Lazzaro


A second victim is suing the former owner and management company of Hotel Ivy, arguing it played a role in a sex trafficking scheme that victimized multiple teenage girls and ended in the conviction of Anton “Tony” Lazzaro.

The man federal prosecutors dubbed “Minnesota’s Jeffrey Epstein” was convicted of sex trafficking of minors in 2023. He’s currently serving a 21-year prison sentence.

Lazzaro resided in a condo at The Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis. During his two-week trial, the minor victims testified that he brought them to his condo in the summer of 2020 and gave them cash, alcohol, vapes and other items in exchange for sex.

Heartland Ivy Partners, LLC and Wischermann Partners are named as the owner and management company of Hotel Ivy at the time of the alleged conduct. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court on Wedesnday, accused the companies of not responding to “obvious signs” of sex trafficking of teenage girls by Lazzaro.

Advertisement

The lawsuit goes on to say the defendants did not exercise “reasonable care” with regard to hiring and training employees. Minnesota law requires hotel and motel employees to be trained to recognize signs of sex trafficking.

The attorney who represents Heartland Ivy Partners LLC, Patrick Kelly, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, “The person responsible for the harm to the Plaintiffs is Anton Lazzaro, who has been convicted of these crimes and is presently serving his sentence in federal prison. We will be defending these lawsuits and will have no further comment.”

This is the second lawsuit against Heartland Ivy Partners LLC related to the Lazzaro sex trafficking scheme. In December, another one of Lazzaro’s victims filed a similar lawsuit.

RELATED: Minneapolis hotel sued over alleged role in sex trafficking scheme involving Anton Lazzaro

In the newest lawsuit, attorneys for the victim say that hotel staff had numerous opportunities to intervene, adding that the victims would show up in groups in the middle of the night, which is an “obvious” sign of sex trafficking.

Advertisement

The front office manager testified during Lazzaro’s criminal trial that the girls who came to the hotel looked about 16 or 17 years old, according to the lawsuit.

Jeffrey Montpetit, the attorney representing the unnamed victim, said the case is based on a federal statute that says anyone who benefits financially from sex trafficking can be found liable.

“It really opens up the window of opportunity to hold wrongdoers responsible,” Montpetit said Wednesday.



Source link

Advertisement

Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis mosque recognizes ICE observers for helping its community

Published

on

Minneapolis mosque recognizes ICE observers for helping its community


On Friday, Laura Kubick once again came to the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. She’s not Muslim, but coming to the mosque on Fridays had become routine, one that earned the gratitude of Imam Sharif Mohamed. 

“What we wanted to do was create a sense of safety and take care of our neighbors,” Kubick said. 

Kubick said that each week, during Friday prayer, she and a friend would keep watch outside the mosque. She’d become one of tens of thousands of people operating as observers, aiming to document U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity and provide a warning to neighbors when agents showed up. 

It’s why Mohamed and other community leaders organized Friday’s Iftar around observers, aiming to provide food and thanks to people who were total strangers before Operation Metro Surge began. Mohamed said he met people who were helping deliver meals to people too afraid to leave their homes, helping get children to school and helping to keep the neighborhood safe. 

Advertisement

“The magnitude of the people who said ‘no, this is not happening on our own watch and in our neighborhood’ was beyond the expectation,” Mohamed said. 

The mosque was packed on Friday with people of all faiths, eagerly awaiting the meal that would break the daily fast observed during Ramadan. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobsen were in attendance and gave remarks. 

“I think everybody did all they could and Minneapolis as a whole showed up in a beautiful way,” Frey said. 

Kubick said she now lives in St. Paul; until this year, she said she hadn’t had much reason to visit Cedar-Riverside since her time in college. When she signed up to help with the Immigrant Defense Network, she noticed that no one had signed up to cover the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque. She said she was happy to be there for them. 

“We showed the love for our community and we showed community solidarity,” Kubick said. 

Advertisement

While the overwhelming majority of Somalis living in Minnesota are U.S. citizens, they reported that ICE targeted them heavily at the beginning of the federal surge into the Twin Cities metro. President Trump first put a spotlight on Somalis in November, blaming the community for individual fraud charges. 

Mohamed said that there are still community members afraid to go about their daily lives. A teacher and observer who spoke Friday evening said students are suffering from learning loss. In some neighborhoods, there are outstanding concerns related to paying rent following the surge. 

Jacobsen said from his standpoint with the state, the observer network represented resilience. He said that from his understanding in recent conversations with federal officials, the bulk of agents now in the state are focused on fraud. He said that he has not been informed what those investigations will actually look like. 



Source link

Continue Reading

Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis OnlyFans users spent $14.3M, more than any other Midwest city in 2025

Published

on

Minneapolis OnlyFans users spent .3M, more than any other Midwest city in 2025


The OnlyFans logo is displayed on a mobile phone with the company branding icon visible in the background in this photo illustration in Brussels, Belgium, on November 24, 2025. (Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Minneapolis OnlyFans subscribers have helped the city secure a top spot for content consumption on the site, ranking it in fifth place in the entire country for per-capita spending.

The city’s per-capita spending intensity is a whopping 4.4x higher than the national average.

Advertisement

READ MORE: Minneapolis PD officer outed as OnlyFans model after pulling over subscriber

Minneapolis among top 5 OnlyFans spenders per capita in the country

By the numbers:

Advertisement

Minneapolis residents spent a combined total of $14.3 million in 2025, or $337,248 per 10,000 residents, earning the city a spot in 5th place nationally.

According to the data, Minneapolis residents spent about $39,000 a day on OnlyFans, more than any other city in the Midwest. 

Advertisement

St. Paul, meanwhile, saw its residents spend about $6.5 million in 2025, or about $209,589 per 10,000 residents, ranking in 17th place nationally.

All of Minnesota spent a total of $47.9 million, ranking it 17th out of all 50 states. 

Minneapolis content creators’ contributions

Advertisement

The Bold North:

According to the data, Minneapolis is just consuming OnlyFans content, it’s also producing its own.

The city is also home to 4,705 creators, who earned more than $6.1 million in revenue, contributing about $1.4 million in combined federal and state taxes. 

Advertisement

Dig deeper:

More data can be found here. 

Advertisement

The Source: This story uses information gathered by OnlyGuider. 

MinneapolisBusinessMinnesota



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis police investigating 3 shootings within 20 minutes

Published

on

Minneapolis police investigating 3 shootings within 20 minutes


Minneapolis police say they are investigating three separate, unrelated shootings that happened within the span of about 20 minutes Thursday night.

Minneapolis police say they are investigating three separate, unrelated shootings that happened within the span of about 20 minutes Thursday night.

Minneapolis shootings

Advertisement

What we know:

Authorities responded to a shooting at about 6:29 p.m. on the 400 block of Taylor Street NE. 

Less than 10 minutes later, police responded to a shooting on the 2000 block of West River Road.

Advertisement

At about 6:46 p.m., police responded to a shooting on the 800 block of Franklin Ave. E.

Police say their preliminary information indicates each shooting had one victim. All injuries appear to be non-life threatening.

Advertisement

Shootings not connected

What we don’t know:

Police say in their investigation, it doesn’t appear that the three shootings are related. Authorities have not made any arrests.

Advertisement

The incidents remain under investigation.

Crime and Public SafetyMinneapolis



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending