Businessman and former Republican activist Anton "Tony" Lazzaro was sentenced Wednesday to 21 years in prison on sex trafficking charges involving five 14- to 16-year old girls he paid to have sex with him.

Lazzaro, 32, was labeled a sexual predator by prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis, who had asked U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz to sentence Lazzaro to 30 years in prison. His attorney had asked for a 10-year sentence, the mandatory minimum.

"Mr. Lazzaro has not shown a shred of remorse," U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz said at Wednesday's sentencing, noting that the only sympathy Lazzaro had shown was for himself and New York financier Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who was charged with trafficking minors before he died by suicide in 2019.

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Lazzaro offered a rambling defense of his behavior and objected to the confiscation of his condominium. He acknowledged no guilt.