Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis made no effort to protect Anton Lazzaro’s sex trafficking victims, lawsuit claims

MINNEAPOLIS — The former owners of a downtown Minneapolis hotel are being sued for allegedly letting former GOP donor Anton “Tony” Lazzaro sex-traffic underage girls at his condominium inside the hotel.

The lawsuit filed in federal district court on Monday claims that the Hotel Ivy and Residences made no effort to protect the teen girls who were sex trafficked by Lazzaro at his condo on the 19th floor of the Ivy Tower in 2020. 

Lazzaro was sentenced to 21 years in prison for sex trafficking five minors ages 15 and 16 when he was 30 years old. Lazzaro paid teenagers for sex with money and gifts, according to federal prosecutors. He also would supply them with drugs and alcohol to the point many were visibly intoxicated and had to be helped leaving the hotel, according to the recent lawsuit.

Since then, the hotel has changed ownership. In a statement to WCCO, the counsel for the defendants in the lawsuit — Heartland Ivy Partners LLC, Ivy Equity Partners LLC, and Wischermann Partners, Inc.  — called the claims “meritless” and said the defendants will “vigorously defend themselves” in court. The counsel also clarified that the Hotel Ivy and Ivy Residences are “separate and distinct pieces of real estate,” and that Lazzaro’s activities occurred at his condo at the Ivy Residences, which is located in the same building as the Hotel Ivy.

Minnesota law requires all owners, managers and on-site employees of hotels in the state to take sex trafficking training annually. The training — developed by the Minnesota Department of Health in partnership with Hospitality Minnesota — includes a virtual presentation, a companion guide, a manager and owner training toolkit and a poster set. The lawsuit claims that despite this training, the staff at Hotel Ivy made no effort to protect the girls trafficked by Lazzaro. 

The front office manager testified during Lazzaro’s trial that the girls who came to see Lazzaro at his condo appeared to be “significantly younger” than 19 and looked closer to 16 or 17, according to the lawsuit. The victims allegedly were instructed to ask the hotel staff to escort them to a private elevator to access Lazzaro’s condo and would often show up late at night.

“There was a pattern of teenage girls arriving late at night to Hotel Ivy, visiting Lazzaro, and leaving a short time later intoxicated. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that something sinister and criminal was occurring,” attorney Molly Burke said.

The lawsuit also claims one girl and her father informed the staff at Hotel Ivy that Lazzrro sex-trafficked teen girls and asked them to help get the girl’s sister out of his condo, but the staff said they could not do anything.

“It’s about the scope and the breadth of this problem, not just in the Twin Cities and not just at the Ivy Hotel, the scene of the crime, but across the state and across this nation,” attorney Jeff Anderson said. “It’s time for all of us to start to see, to start to watch and then do something about it — something the Ivy Hotel staff failed miserably to do.”

FBI agents raided Lazzaro’s Hotel Ivy condo in December 2020. Investigators seized nearly $400,000 in cash, along with foreign currency and bars believed to be gold. They found a GPS tracker, thumb drives, laptops, tablets and more than a dozen cellphones. Agents also confiscated his Ferrari.

The uncovering of Lazzaro’s actions led to fallout within the Minnesota Republican Party. He’d given the party about $190,000 and was connected to the then-chair, Jennifer Carnahan. There were cries for Carnahan to resign from within the Minnesota GOP. She stepped down a week after the charges against Lazzaro were unsealed.

Lazzaro’s co-defendant, Gisela Castro Medina, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and one count of obstruction. 

Court documents say Castro Medina recruited and brought the victims to Lazzaro’s condo. Lazzaro would then compensate Castro Medina with payments for rent, tuition, utilities and travel expenses after he had sex with them.

Note: The video above originally aired on Aug. 9, 2023.