https://www.startribune.com/state-gop-operative-charged-with-sex-trafficking-minors-claims-feds-targeted-him-for-being-rich/600140320/?refresh=true

There's been something of an interesting development in a side story to the Ilhan Omar saga now that court filings are laid out.
Last year a GOP donor and operative in Minnesota was arrested under lurid charges of child sex trafficking, just hours after he posted a website unveiling purported DNA evidence that he and his operatives had obtained by traveling to Kenya, claiming to prove with DNA that Ilhan Omar's former husband Ahmed Nur Said Elmi was indeed her biological brother. It was quite the timing as he unveiled this story only to be immediately brought up on pedophilia charges, and shook up the state GOP, leading to the eventual resignation of Jennifer Carnahan, the GOP state chair who had been supported by this donor.

Now the facts of the case are out and its a bit more nuanced. What apparently is uncontested is that 31 year old Anton Lazzaro went on dates with girls in the 16-17 year range who he met through the sugar-baby website Seeking Arrangement (and a girl he met on it who introduced him to her friends), and that he had bought valuable gifts for them while shopping like cell phones, vape pens, a prada purse, etc. The age of consent in Minnesota is 16, making them of legal age normally. The state's indictment claims that Lazzaro was exchanging these gifts for sex as a form of prostitution, thereby making it ipso facto illegal sexual activity, and that because it was prostitution across state lines it can be charged as federal sex trafficking which has an age of consent of 18, thereby making it child sex trafficking. The defense has claimed that the girls were approached by government agents and 'convinced' that their consensual activities were actually prostitution after the fact, and that one girl attempted to extort him with a demand of $1000 in hush money by text message, which he offered to pay in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement, and that he is being targeted for political reasons and wealth.

The defense points out that there seems to be no precedent in all US federal case law for the government to charge a young man for engaging in consensual sexual activity with a girl of legal age based on the theory that giving her gifts makes it constitute a commercial sex act. I don't know if that claim is true or not, but it seems pretty jarring that this theory would criminalize... a lot of relationships. If a man buys a woman some jewelry or cosmetics or clothing while on a date at the mall and then goes home and they fuck consensually, is he now a john? Is she a prostitute? Under the eyes of the law, until this case was filed, they weren't. But the prosecution in this case is arguing that gift giving makes otherwise consensual sex into commerce, which is implicitly illegal regardless of age.
And of course, this overreach just happened to very conspicuously occur in the extreme far-left prosecutors office led by Keith "E Hakim" Ellison at the same time the guy was trying to prove Ilhan Omar married her own brother with DNA evidence, down to the hour.

So what's the difference between a date and a prostitute?

A date cost money. Sex is not the point of the event.
A prostitute cost money. Sex is the reason of the exchange.

There is a few scenario where i believe people should give themselves the right to put their nose in someone else business;

1) Pedophiles
2) Abusive behaviours
3) Other scenarios where someone is in danger

so lemme get this straight: 31 yr old guy paid a 19 yr old woman cash to find him 16 yr old girls with whom he could buy expensive gifts so they have sex would go on dates with him

LMFAO

/to which his defense is agents are targeting him because he's rich

LOL

This post was edited by Jupe on Jan 28 2022 03:50pm

ilhan omar should be in prison for terrorism. and she's a joke of a human being. filth.

Are you a man, or woman? Just wondering.



You'll understand my skepticism.

This post was edited by WitchfinderGeneral on Jan 28 2022 04:09pm

A man.

looool bro seeking arrangement is a well known escort site.

And is also operating in plain view, shielded by its grey area legality. Because anyone trying to prosecute a john who goes on 'dates' for 'gifts' has to tangle with exactly this question, what's the line that becomes prostitution?
I'd like to see what precedents if any exist for prosecutors. It seems like precisely the kind of issue they avoid because its steeped thoroughly in reasonable doubt.
And its pretty telling that the case they're using to test this novel legal ground happens to be against the guy about to post dirt about the Attorney General's predecessor and ally.

AFAIK, everything I can google up about sugar daddy prosecutions has been either sting operations with the magic words of sex-for-cash, or girls under the age of consent. This one isn't technically the latter since the age of consent is 16 in MN, and is using the allegation of prostitution to raise the age of consent. Finding precedents like this would be the job of an actual lawyer in the case and nobodies paying me

This post was edited by Goomshill on Jan 28 2022 04:09pm

The Morality Party trying to use moral grey areas as a defense is so amusing.

so if a guy pays for the dinner on a date, is that a gift and prostitution as well?

i mean the gender dynanics are a value exchange every single time, thats how things are, but where is the line?

buy an expensive handbag = prostitution, what about a golden salt bae steak dinner for the same price?

the real problem here is the following

women can retroactively withdraw consent at any time in the #metoo age or like in this case the government retroactively constructs a criminal act out of nowhere

everything was consensual, everyone got what they wanted and the guy still gets rekt

for me these chicks on seeking are clearly prostitutes even if they dont see themselves that way