Brazilian ex-model says Trump ally used influence to have her deported amid child custody battle

Amanda Ungaro arrived in Brazil in October 2025 on a deportation flight from the United States, ending a 23-year life in the country. In an exclusive interview with O GLOBO in February, the former model said her removal followed the intervention of her ex-partner, Italian businessman Paolo Zampolli, a figure with longstanding ties to political power in Washington. Immigration agents entered her home at dawn, she recalled. “They came in at six in the morning, pulled me into the hallway in my pajamas, with my face turned to the wall, and took our passports,” Ungaro said. “They handcuffed me and my husband in front of my son, who was also taken to the station because he is a minor and I had no one to leave him with.” Ungaro lived in the United States from 2002 until her deportation in 2025. A report published last week by The New York Times lent support to her account, stating that Zampolli contacted a senior immigration official and sought to have Ungaro transferred to an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility before she could be released on bond. According to the report, Zampolli’s objective was to regain custody of their 15-year-old son, Giovanni, amid an ongoing legal dispute. Zampolli, 56, currently serves as a special envoy for global partnerships, a position created by President Donald Trump. On social media, he presents himself as a member of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees and frequently appears alongside high-profile figures, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Trump adviser Jared Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Born in Milan, Zampolli moved to New York in the mid-1990s, where he met Donald Trump. Their relationship deepened over time, particularly during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, when questions emerged about Melania Trump’s immigration status during her early modeling career. Zampolli said he had helped secure her work visa through his role as a modeling agent. At the time — in 1996 — he was working with the New York–based Metropolitan Models. The following year, he founded his own agency, ID Models. Ungaro described Zampolli as embodying a lifestyle that resonated with Trump’s circle: daily lunches at Cipriani in New York, lavish birthday parties — at times featuring exotic animals such as tiger cubs — and a social orbit filled with models, champagne, and tabloid attention. During their 19-year relationship, she said, he brought her to parties hosted by music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is currently serving a four-year sentence for transporting women for prostitution, and to yacht gatherings attended by celebrities and members of European royal families. At such events, she said, Zampolli often brought his own waiter to ensure no one tampered with his drinks. “When Trump won in 2016, Paolo acted like he had been elected, too,” Ungaro said. “We were suddenly invited everywhere. At New Year’s parties at Mar-a-Lago, we and one other couple were the only ones at the table with Trump and Melania.” Donald and Melania Trump with Paolo Zampolli and Amanda Ungaro at a New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago in Florida Reproduction A flight on Epstein’s plane Zampolli’s social circle also overlapped with that of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Epstein was a frequent visitor to ID Models, the agency founded by Zampolli, and the two once explored acquiring Elite Model Management in 2004. Zampolli’s name appears repeatedly in documents released as part of the Epstein investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Ungaro has been invited, but not yet subpoenaed, to testify before the U.S. House Oversight Committee investigating the case. She said she encountered Epstein once, in 2002, when she boarded a flight from Paris to New York on one of his planes, known as the “Lolita Express,” while traveling with her agent, French modeling scout Jean-Luc Brunel, who was later accused of recruiting young women for Epstein. Later that year, she met Zampolli in New York. “There were around 30 girls on the plane. I found it very strange,” she said. “They looked more like students than models — very young, beautiful, but not with a model’s profile.” A document shows Amanda Ungaro listed on the passenger manifest for the “Lolita Express.” The image includes dozens of names from a June 27, 2002 flight between Paris and New York, including Jeffrey Epstein (“JE”), Ghislaine Maxwell (“GM”), and Jean-Luc Brunel U.S. Department of Justice Looking back, Ungaro said she immediately felt something was off. Many of the girls appeared to be between 14 and 16 years old. Some seemed familiar with Epstein and with Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate, who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in Texas for sex trafficking and related offenses. “Some of them sat on his lap, stayed close, playing around,” she said, adding that Maxwell also appeared very at ease with the minors. “It felt like they already knew each other. It didn’t seem like a group of strangers meeting for the first time. Those people hadn’t just met, like I had.” When Maxwell learned Ungaro was Brazilian, she reacted enthusiastically: “Oh, how nice that you’re from Brazil!” At one point, Ungaro said, Epstein and Maxwell went to the back of the plane accompanied by some of the girls. Ungaro said she kept to herself throughout the flight and did not interact with the other passengers. A 19-year relationship Ungaro and Zampolli were together for nearly two decades. She said that when their relationship began in 2002, she was a 17-year-old model with a promising career, while he was a 32-year-old modeling agent based in New York. After a brief separation in 2018, the relationship ended definitively in 2021 following reports of an extramarital affair. In 2023, Ungaro moved to Florida, leaving her son at a boarding school. The following year, Giovanni came to live with her and remained there until her arrest. She married Brazilian physician João Batista Cunha Araújo in 2024. According to Ungaro, tensions escalated after Zampolli learned of the relationship and began questioning her immigration status. Two days before her attorney filed a new child support claim against Zampolli, Ungaro and her husband were arrested. Documents provided by Amanda Ungaro that she says show her immigration status was in transition at the time of her arrest and deportation by ICE Personal archive Authorities in Aventura, Florida — part of the Miami metropolitan area — said that at the time of the couple’s arrest in June 2025, they had received anonymous complaints alleging that Araújo was operating an unlicensed medical clinic. The charges included practicing medicine without a license, grand theft, and organized fraud. The couple denies wrongdoing. Araújo said he was not practicing medicine in the United States at the time and was instead teaching while working to regularize his credentials. He now holds certification as a physician assistant. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Ungaro was detained and deported for overstaying her visa and facing fraud-related allegations, rejecting claims of political motivation or interference by Zampolli. Contacted by O GLOBO, Zampolli said he wishes “only the best” for his former partner and dismissed Ungaro’s claims that he was behind her arrest and deportation as “absurd.” He said that after speaking with Florida state prosecutor Stacy Cleveland, he was told the allegations involving the clinic where Ungaro and her current husband worked had already been under investigation for about three years. Ungaro disputes the Department of Homeland Security’s account, saying her immigration status was “in transition” and providing documents she says support that claim. Because her husband holds a green card, she argues she was eligible for residency through marriage, though she acknowledged she did not have a valid visa from 2019 to 2024. She also points to a 2018 out-of-court agreement in which, she says, Zampolli committed to helping regularize her immigration status and provide financial support. A document obtained by O GLOBO shows the two sought a private settlement, agreeing to support her immigration process and provide financial assistance, while acting in Giovanni’s best interests. After their final separation in 2021, none of those commitments were fulfilled. “Zampolli said, ‘Wait, if Trump wins the next election, we'll sort out your visa situation and passport’," Amanda recounts. An out-of-court settlement agreement signed by Amanda Ungaro and Paolo Zampolli Reproduction Ungaro said she chose to return to Brazil in part out of fear of losing custody of her son while in detention. Her husband, Araújo, remains in Florida under electronic monitoring as the case proceeds. After her return, the New York Supreme Court authorized her son’s relocation to Brazil in November 2025. Weeks later, in December 2025, she filed a complaint alleging that Zampolli had unlawfully taken the child back to the United States. On social media, Zampolli offered a different account, saying the teenager chose to return on his own, “bought the ticket with his miles,” and told him: “Dad, I love America. I want to stay here forever.” A message obtained by O GLOBO shows that, weeks after Giovanni’s return to the United States, Zampolli again invoked his influence, stating that his son would give a statement to Florida state prosecutor Stacy Cleveland and that the record would be forwarded to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. In the same message, he refers to “Jay Clinton,” a name that appears to point to Jay Clayton, whom Trump appointed to serve as U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Bondi and Clayton are involved in handling the Jeffrey Epstein case. The “Madam Cardi” referenced in the message is the attorney appointed by a U.S. court to represent Giovanni’s interests in the custody dispute between his parents. A message in which Paolo Zampolli says his son’s testimony would be forwarded to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Reproduction “This wouldn’t be the first time Paolo has tried to use his influence to obtain favors within the government,” Ungaro said. “I will continue fighting to have my son returned to my custody.” She also said she has received emails from Zampolli that she interprets as veiled threats, often referencing his proximity to Trump. In one message reviewed by O Globo, he wrote that “my position serving the president is not forever” and that she should allow him to “complete [his] work” to help secure their son’s future rather than expose him to “unnecessary harm.” In the same communication, Zampolli suggests that public exposure of the case — including media attention and potential testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein — could harm their son’s chances of being admitted to prestigious universities. Asked by O Globo why he contacted Cleveland — despite no apparent direct connection to the case — Zampolli said he was concerned about his son’s safety before ending the call.

Go to News Site