Amanda Ungaro Claims Witnessing 'Highly Compromising Interactions' Years Before Melania Trump Friendship Fallout – What Is It About?

Amanda Ungaro, the Brazilian model at the centre of a growing feud with First Lady Melania Trump, has claimed she witnessed 'highly compromising interactions' involving figures in the Trumps' social circle and has said she is ready to testify against the Trumps in court. The claims follow Ungaro's public falling-out with Melania and her subsequent deportation from the United States, which she has linked to the actions of her former partner, Paolo Zampolli — now President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Global Partnerships.

Ungaro was close friends with the Trumps for two decades while she was also in a relationship with Zampolli. Just before her deportation, she reached out to Melania asking for help to renew her US visa, but says her call was never returned.

Attempts to Expose Melania Trump

This week, Ungaro spoke to the Miami Herald in her first English-language interview, sharing details about her falling out with Melania, her troubled relationship with Zampolli, and Zampolli's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. She had previously spoken to Spanish publication El País about the Epstein connection, including her account of flying to the US on Epstein's plane at the age of 17, alongside her then-agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

In video coverage published by Democratic-aligned political media organisation MeidasTouch, Ungaro stated: 'Melania felt threatened and while she did not threaten me directly, she knows that I witnessed highly compromising interactions.' When pressed on the nature of those interactions, Ungaro declined to elaborate, telling the Miami Herald only that they involved Zampolli's modelling network, where young women were introduced to wealthy figures.

Ungaro further alleged that young models were brought to the US from overseas and assisted in obtaining visas. She claimed that Zampolli, through his proximity to Trump, introduced the president to some of these models and that the relationship helped facilitate the visa process — allegations IBTimes cannot independently verify.

An Unlikely Friendship

In her El País interview, Ungaro was asked to describe Melania's relationship with Zampolli. She said it appeared to benefit both parties mutually. Ungaro also claimed that Zampolli appeared to hold some form of leverage over Melania.

'Paolo Zampolli always portrayed himself as the one who initiated the relationship. It always seemed to me that Paolo held some hidden leverage over Melania's life—something that kept her in his thrall. It was a business arrangement, it seems to me—an agreement from which both parties stood to benefit. Just look at how things have turned out today,' she said.

Zampolli currently serves as Trump's Special Envoy for Global Partnerships and sits on the board of the Kennedy Center. The New York Times independently confirmed that Zampolli contacted an ICE official, David Venturella, ahead of Ungaro's arrest, an outcome the Times noted might have occurred independently of Zampolli's involvement.

Did Melania Trump Try to Shutdown Her Former Friend?

Earlier this month, Ungaro posted a series of messages directed at Melania, saying the First Lady should be concerned about what she could expose. In those posts, Ungaro used a term accusing the president of sex crimes.

A day later, Melania addressed the nation via a surprise speech that she reportedly did not tell her husband about in advance. Without naming Ungaro, the First Lady stated she and Epstein were not close friends but merely passing acquaintances, and that when she met him in 2000 she had no knowledge of his criminal activities.

Shortly after the speech, Ungaro posted a further message on X, calling Melania an expletive and stating she had nothing left to lose. Ungaro is also facing pending criminal charges in Miami related to unlicensed medical procedures; her husband is due to stand trial on 5 May.

Ungaro has not yet specified the nature of the interactions she claims to have witnessed. She is scheduled to appear today on Italian state broadcaster RAI's investigative programme Report, where the programme's host has described the upcoming interview as containing 'explosive revelations at an international level.' The White House did not respond to the Miami Herald's request for comment.