Who Is Amanda Ungaro? What We Know as Melania Trump Speaks Out on Epstein
The ex-girlfriend of a former modeling agent-turned-presidential special envoy is threatening Melania Trump with legal action while vowing to tear down the first lady’s “corrupt system.”
Amanda Ungaro, a 41-year-old former model from Brazil, threatened to upend the first lady’s life in a series of intensifying posts on X just hours before Trump on Thursday disavowed all ties to Jeffrey Epstein or knowledge of his crimes.
“I have nothing left to lose in my life,” Ungaro posted on X early Thursday. “I will tear down the entire system - be careful with me b****.”
A minute earlier, Ungaro, the former partner of Trump ally Paolo Zampolli, vowed to expose the first lady while invoking the president.
“I will tear down your corrupt system, even if it's the last thing I do in my life,” Ungaro posted. “I will go all the way - I am not afraid. Maybe you should be afraid of what I know … of who you are, and who your husband is.”
In another reply to an archived post from Melania’s former @FLOTUS45 account, Ungaro vowed to “take legal action” against Trump and her “pedophile husband” while alleging long-standing ties to former model.
“I have known you for 20 years,” Ungaro posted. “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.”
Newsweek, which could not independently confirm the authenticity of the allegations, reached out to Ungaro-who was deported to Brazil following her arrest on fraud charges last year-and the White House for comment on Friday.
Zampolli, 56, who is Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships, reached out to a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official last June to relay that Ungaro was in the country illegally, The New York Times reported last month.
Ungaro was later deported, which may have occurred regardless of Zampolli’s involvement, but the matter underscored the lengths federal government officials will go to settle scores during the second Trump administration, the newspaper reported.
Zampolli denied asking ICE to detain Ungaro or any other favors, insisting he wanted to learn more about her case. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said she had been detained and ultimately deported because of an expired visa and fraud charges.
“Any suggestion that she was arrested and removed for political reasons or favors is FALSE,” DHS officials told the Times in a statement.
Zampolli and Donald Trump-fixtures in the New York City nightlife scene during the 1990s-have repeatedly recalled how the modeling agent introduced him to Melania Knauss at the Kit Kat Club in 1998 after recruiting her from Slovenia.
Zampolli also once discussed buying a modeling agency with Epstein and his name appears several times in the documents pertaining to the convicted sex offender released by the Justice Department, the Times reported.
But Zampolli insisted he didn’t have a close relationship with Epstein, appearing far less frequently in the millions of documents than other prominent figures.
“At least I was included, because if you’re not on the list, you’re a loser, right?” he told the Times in a recent interview.
Zampolli also recalled the fateful Melania-Donald meeting during an interview Friday, reiterated that he, not Epstein, introduced the pair.
“I’m ready to testify in front of Congress if I’m asked,” Zampolli told Sky News when asked about how Donald and Melania met. “And [I’ll] say the truth-because this is totally nonsense.”
Ungaro, meanwhile, told the Times that she was a 17-year-old model when she arrived in New York in 2002 after flying on Epstein’s plane from Paris with her French agent. She never saw Epstein again but met Zampolli later that year and began a two-decade romantic relationship with him beginning when she was 19, Zampolli told the Times.
In 2023, after Zampolli made headlines for explicit text messages he allegedly sent to a sex worker, Ungaro ended the relationship, moved to Florida and married a doctor from Brazil. The former couple then became mired in a custody battle for their 15-year-old son before Ungaro and her husband were arrested in June.
Ungaro recalled flying on Epstein’s so-called “Lolita Express” in an interview last month.
“I was a little scared when I saw all those girls,” she told The Globe, a Brazilian newspaper. “I was like, ‘Guys, where am I?'”
Ungaro said her former agent, Jean-Luc Brunel, who acted as Epstein’s scout in Brazil, according to the Justice Department, introduced her to Epstein during the flight.
Epstein then asked Ungaro her age and hometown, prompting Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, to react emphatically, she recalled.
“Oh, that’s cool that you’re from Brazil!” Maxwell allegedly said.
Ungaro said she kept to herself during the flight but noticed how many passengers seemingly knew Epstein intimately.
“Some of them sat on his lap, stayed close, playing,” Ungaro said, adding that Maxwell appeared at ease, too. “It gave the impression that she already knew those girls. It didn’t seem like a chance meeting. Those people had not just met, as was my case.”
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This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 5:24 PM.