Is This Deported Model the Reason Melania Distanced Herself From Epstein?

On Thursday afternoon, First Lady Melania Trump addressed the nation in a six-minute-long speech. 

“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect,” she began. She went on to deliver a meandering account, distancing herself from the convicted sex offender.

At 9 p.m. Wednesday, prior to Melania’s speech, an account that appears to belong to Amanda Ungaro, a Brazilian former model who resided in the United States for 23 years prior to being deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in June 2025, posted a message to former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 

“Are you already aware of the situation?” she wrote. “Do you fully understand the extent of the information I possess regarding you and the individuals associated with you? I strongly advise you to consider the seriousness of these matters. Any actions taken against me or attempts to escalate this situation could have significant legal consequences,” Ungaro continued.

“I expect this to be handled with the appropriate level of responsibility and professionalism moving forward.” The post was accompanied by four photos, including what appears to be a young Ungaro holding a baby.

In the summer of 2025, amid President Donald Trump’s stern immigration crackdown, Ungaro, arrested on charges of fraud at the medical spa where she worked, sat in jail. Like many immigrants, she was then placed in ICE custody and deported from Miami back to her native Brazil. But what, from the outside, appeared to be a routine removal procedure under the Trump administration has quite the back story.

Paolo Zampolli, an Italian former modeling agent turned presidential special envoy, had asked ICE to detain Ungaro, his ex-girlfriend, amid an ongoing custody battle over their child, the New York Times reported in March. Zampolli’s relationship with the president, according to a caption on his Instagram, has endured for over 30 years.

“Mr. Zampolli, 56, is known in Washington for flaunting his proximity to the Trumps,” the Times story reads. “In this case, he used his clout to solicit help from an agency beset by allegations of unlawful overreach.”

Ungaro arrived in New York in 2002 when she was 17. According to the Times, she traveled on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane from Paris with her agent, and later said she never saw Epstein again. That same year, she met Zampolli, then 32, at a Manhattan nightclub, where he recruited her as a modeling client, encouraged her to move to the U.S., and began a relationship she said lasted two decades (Zampolli has said it began when she was 19).

She recalled the plane ride in a March interview with the Rio de Janeiro-based Brazilian daily newspaper O Globo.

“There were about 30 girls on the plane. I found it very strange,” Ungaro said. “They looked more like students than models — beautiful and very young, but not with a model profile.”

The two were fixtures in elite social circles as Zampolli built connections with figures including former President Bill Clinton and businessman Ron Burkle, but one of his closest and most lasting ties was with the Trump family.

A separate New York Times story published in August 2016 states that Zampolli “discovered the Slovene [Melania] 20 years ago in Milan.” The story is titled, “When Donald Met Melania, Paolo Was There.”

The O Globo story reads, “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.”

But after years of lavish parties amid elite social circles, Zampolli and Ungaro parted ways. Ungaro described her sudden removal from the U.S., where she lived from 2002 until her 2025 deportation, to the Rio de Janeiro-based publication.

“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,” she told the paper. “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.”

She also spoke of her 19-year relationship with Zampolli, describing how the Italian businessman brought her to parties hosted by music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is serving a four-year sentence for transporting women for prostitution, and to yacht parties with celebrities and European royalty, where he “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 told O Globo. “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.”

Zampolli did not respond to a request for comment via social media by the time of this reporting.

And Ungaro didn’t mince words with Melania on X, either. Responding to a video of the First Lady bidding farewell to the nation at the conclusion of Trump’s first term, she wrote, “Until you fall as a little chicken.”

“Will take legal action against you and your pedophile husband,” she wrote in another post a few minutes earlier. “I have known you for 20 years. You knew I was detained in ICE. You were present in my life — every year on my son’s birthday, even sending Secret Service and being the first to congratulate him, back in 2016.

“Something was clearly wrong, but I am not part of any evil mission involving children. So what did you do, Melania? You tried to involve me, but you failed — because I have character.”

Ungaro did not respond to a request for comment via social media by the time of this reporting.

Melania, during her address, said that she was not friendly with Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently facing 20 years in prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.

“I’ve never been friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach, she continued. “To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell.”

But Department of Justice documents revealed as part of the Epstein Transparency Act appear to tell a different story.

“How are you?” Melania writes to Maxwell in an October 2022 email. “Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture. I know you are very busy flying all over the world. How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time!
Love, Melania”

Ungaro, who says she holds information about the Trumps, shows no sign of backing down.

“I will tear down your corrupt system, even if it’s the last thing I do in my life. I will go all the way—I am not afraid,” she wrote to the First Lady on X. “Maybe you should be afraid of what I know… of who you are, and who your husband is.”

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment via its press page.