A jury in March found Anton “Tony” Lazzaro, 32, guilty of paying five teenage girls for sex, in violation of federal sex trafficking laws. Prosecutors had asked Judge Patrick Schiltz to impose a 30-year sentence.

Former Minnesota Republican Party operative and donor Anton “Tony” Lazzaro was sentenced in federal district court Wednesday to 21 years in prison for sex trafficking.

After a 10-day trial in March, a jury found Lazzaro, 32, guilty of bringing five teenage girls to his apartment in downtown Minneapolis and paying them for sex, in violation of federal sex trafficking laws.