Paolo Zampolli on Melania, Epstein and being Trump’s envoy
‘I’m going to Africa. I’m going to change the name of Kilimanjaro to Mount Trump,” Paolo Zampolli declares in Washington on Friday afternoon.
President Trump’s envoy for special partnerships is about to set off on his latest business trip and has the 19,341ft African mountain in his sights. “Actually I was talking to the minister of Tanzania,” Zampolli continues. “I said I’m coming but I’m changing the name.”
The 56-year-old Italian-American businessman has a relationship with Trump that dates back several decades. The former modelling agent and close Trump ally says he introduced the president to the current first lady, then Melania Knauss, in 1998. It is this connection that has catapulted Zampolli into the limelight, as he finds himself in the news for his personal life.
Last month, The New York Times reported that he had asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain his Brazilian former partner and the mother of his child, Amanda Ungaro. Since then, an account appearing to be Ungaro’s has suggested she had compromising material on Zampolli.
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There has been speculation that she could give an interview discussing her experiences with Epstein and Melania.
This month, Melania held a press conference declaring that Jeffrey Epstein had not introduced her to her husband, hitting out against “baseless lies” and “false smears”. Zampolli is offering to testify to that in Congress.
There is no evidence that Mrs Trump’s speech had anything to do with Ungaro.
“[Melania is] a great mother, they have a terrific son,” Zampolli says. “She’s our marvellous first lady. It’s why it’s very disgusting she [Ungaro] sends messages on the internet to get attention claiming friendship and association that she clearly does not have. You don’t say that to a first lady.”
Zampolli has previously said little in public about their connections but now wants to share his version of events.
He says he met Melania when she was a 24-year-old model. Zapolli was running the modelling agency that brought her to the United States and was already a friend of Trump.
They worked together and hung out socially and Melania became friends with his Hungarian girlfriend. They would go to the movies and swim together. He recalls the young Melania cooking “boring” vegetables with his girlfriend at the time, while he would eat at Cipriani’s, an upmarket Italian restaurant nearby. “You know that models have to have some kind of a diet,” he says.
“We became friends, stayed friends. I introduced them [the Trumps],” he recalls. This was at a party he was hosting at the Kit Kat Club during New York fashion week. “A week later she came to my house. I had a party for the designer Roberto Cavalli and they came together.”
Zampolli appears in the Epstein files; Epstein called him trouble. “I knew Jeffrey Epstein because he was considered the owner of Victoria’s Secret.” (The financier was actually an adviser to the lingerie brand’s chief executive.) “[Melania] didn’t meet Jeffrey Epstein through me,” he adds.
How close was Zampolli to Epstein? There were reports that Zampolli, who ran ID Model Management, planned to purchase Elite Model Management with Epstein, but the deal never went through. “You read Epstein’s file. The only thing you can see is that I was trouble. He didn’t say I was having dinner with him or going to the island. I was never invited to the island. I would never go.”
Zampolli disputes parts of the New York Times story but says it was “totally true” that he called colleagues at ICE and asked, “What’s going on with my son?” He claims his son, who currently lives with his father in America, woke Zampolli up with a phone call and told him Ungaro had been arrested.
There is a legal case between the former couple over custody of their teenage son. Is it not a little convenient for him that she is now not in the country? “No. Actually, the opposite,” he says. “Because she would be in jail. We were looking to find a possibility to have a jail close to where Giovanni was going to go to boarding school so he could visit her.”
Ungaro and her husband, a Brazilian doctor, were arrested in June last year and charged with fraud following anonymous tips. Both deny wrongdoing.
Zampolli, who describes their relationship as “a bit toxic”, claims that Ungaro had limited interactions with the first lady. “I don’t know if she spoke [to her for] more than ten minutes … in ten years,” he says. “Most of the time that she saw the first lady, it was in a photo opp for an egg roll or a kids’ Christmas party at the White House. When you walk inside, there’s other people waiting outside and … you get some face time. She never had a phone number or email address.”
The Sunday Times has been unable to reach Ungaro for comment.
Zampolli’s role in the administration as an envoy sees him work on partnerships with a focus on sports diplomacy, using fair competition “to unite people”. This summer the United States will co-host the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics will take place in Los Angeles.
Earlier this year Zampolli endorsed Russia’s participation in the Paralympics. “I think that people should not be discriminated against for what their leaders do. I had a full page in The New York Times about the Russian Federation and the Paralympics. Honestly my personal belief is sport is for all. Sports should unite people.”
His role has also faced scrutiny when it comes to dealmaking. He has spoken of “$20bn in 20 minutes” when it comes to his approach to business for the president.
“Everybody wants to work with the United States of America because we are the power of the world. Especially for business, for technology, for everything, and so my job is to push America First’s agenda.” His two main bosses are the president and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state — though they are “both very busy”.
Zampolli says: “When people meet me they want to have some kind of access to the president. The most powerful person in humanity. They all have very creative ideas. I tell them to buy some Boeings. The president will be happy. We know that he loves to sell Boeings.”
Is that not cash for access, I ask. “First of all, I don’t get paid by Boeing and this gives Americans jobs.” Has he been made richer through his job? “Absolutely not. When you work for the government you have strict rules that you can’t use it to your advantage.”
DOCUMENTED REFERENCES
Exploring Documented Records
Public interest in the Epstein case continues not only because of court proceedings and testimonies, but also due to the growing body of documented records that help researchers and readers understand the broader context. Beyond legal files and media reports, some independent projects have organized publicly available data connected to Epstein’s activities.
One example is a structured archive of documented Amazon order records, where purchases are cataloged with dates and product details. While individual items do not prove wrongdoing on their own, examining documented information alongside established facts helps paint a clearer picture of the environment and circumstances surrounding the case.
Browse the structured archive of documented order records
For readers looking to review primary-source style data rather than interpretations, exploring compiled records can provide additional context to the broader discussion.
