Trump Ally Who Says He Introduced President to Melania Accused of Rape - Newsweek
A longtime associate of President Donald Trump has been accused in a civil lawsuit of drugging and raping a woman.
Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent who serves as Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships, is accused by 33-year-old model and tech entrepreneur Victoria Drake of sexually assaulting her at his Manhattan townhouse in October 2023.
Zampolli denies the allegations, telling Substack PunchUp they are part of an effort to extort or damage him.
Newsweek contacted an attorney for Zampolli via email.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 3.
The 56-year-old Italian-born businessman said Drake's suit should be handled alongside a criminal complaint he filed against Drake in Rome in April, which alleges Drake tried to extort him.
“Mr. Zampolli has publicly threatened our client with a $100 million lawsuit and accused her of extortion, yet our process servers have repeatedly been unable to serve him with the lawsuit he is so eager to discuss publicly," Jesse Weinstein, an attorney for Drake, told Newsweek on Monday.
Weinstein added: "We have made multiple good faith attempts to effectuate service and will continue doing so. If Mr. Zampolli wants to contest Victoria’s allegations, the appropriate place to do that is in court, where both sides will be subject to the rules of evidence and the judicial process.
"Victoria reported the alleged assault to law enforcement immediately and underwent medical examinations the following day. She is prepared to pursue her claims and will not be intimidated by threats, political connections, or efforts to avoid having those claims heard.”
Zampolli has said he introduced Trump to the future First Lady Melania Trump at a New York Fashion Week party he hosted in 1998. Melania Trump has previously said she met her husband at that party, though she has not credited Zampolli with introducing them.
In an extraordinary press conference earlier this year, Melania Trump denied the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had introduced her to Trump. "Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband, by chance, at a New York City party in 1998," she said.
Drake's complaint said Zampolli approached Drake shortly after she arrived at Manhattan private members’ club Zero Bond on October 5.
They “recounted recognizing each other from Mar-a-Lago and their shared admiration for President Trump,” it said. Zampolli invited Drake and a friend to his townhouse for a “nightcap” later that evening, which she attended with a friend and left “without issue” about 2:30 a.m., the complaint added.
Zampolli invited her to his home again the following morning and sent her a message saying “I want to get to know you,” as per the suit.
At about 1:45 a.m. on October 7, Zampolli called Drake and invited her to his townhouse for a “get together” with graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. Drake thought it would be a “good networking opportunity” and she arrived at his home approximately 3 a.m., the complaint further alleged.
On arrival, Zampolli offered her a drink and she “lost consciousness,” with her last memory sitting on the couch in the living room and observing Zampolli “consume copious amounts of cocaine."
The complaint also alleges that in her brief moments of consciousness, she recalled “laying on her back in a bed, in dimly lit lighting, fully naked, with Defendant Zampolli laying on top of her and sweating profusely onto her body, while gripping her neck with both hands and vaginally penetrating her with his penis.”
Drake alleges she “did not, and could not consent to any sexual contact” with Zampolli.
The complaint says Drake filed a report with the New York Police Department the following day. She also underwent a drug-facilitated sexual assault examination and a sexual assault forensic examination at a New York hospital that same day. Drake had bruising on her left leg and hips and was prescribed medication to prevent the development of sexually transmitted diseases, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Drake continues to suffer "severe emotional distress and physical ailments" as a result of Zampolli's actions.
Drake is seeking a judgment declaring that Zampolli engaged in "unlawful gender motivated violence" prohibited by the New York City Administrative Code, as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. She has requested a jury trial.
An initial conference has been scheduled for November 6.
According to Drake’s complaint, Zampolli “has operated in the same orbit” as Epstein, and that they had “jointly bid to purchase Elite Model Management at a public auction.”
It notes that Zampolli has been named in the Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice since Congress passed a law mandating the disclosure of records from the Epstein investigation. However, the files have included emails and records involving numerous high-profile figures and merely being mentioned in the records is not an indication of wrongdoing. Zampolli has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Earlier this year, Zampolli denied a series of allegations made by his former partner Amanda Ungaro. She accused him of using his influence to have her deported to Brazil amid a custody battle over their teenage son.
"Did I pull favors? No. Was she illegal? That’s for them to decide,” he told Newsweek in an interview.
He also denied claims about how old she was when they met. “I met Amanda in New York when she was 19. Now they say she was 15. The distortion of the information is out of control,” he said.
He also denied any personal connection to Epstein. “I never had any personal engagement with Mr. Epstein. It was part of the New York scene—that’s it,” he added.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Cristina Diciu.
