Trump's longtime friend and White House envoy 'asked ICE to detain and deport mother of his child' amid custody battle
Paolo Zampolli, a modelling agent, is accused contacting a senior ICE official and seeking to have the mother of his child detained
A longtime Trump ally and White House envoy has been accused of asking ICE agents to detain and deport mother of his child amid an ongoing custody battle.
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Paolo Zampolli, a multi-millionaire modelling agent who is credited with first introducing Melania Trump to the US President, is alleged to have requested Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to detain his ex-partner.
Zampolli, 56, who now serves as the US President's special envoy for global partnerships, is accused of calling in a favour from high-ranking ICE official David Venturella in June of last year.
As reported by the New York Times, Zampolli requested that ex-girlfriend, Amanda Ungaro, be arrested on fraud charges in Miami.
A source with knowledge of the case claimed to the outlet that Zampolli suggested his Brazilian ex was in the country illegally - and later questioned whether she could be held in ICE detention to help him win guardianship amid an ongoing custody battle.
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The outlet, who cited records and the anonymous source, claim Venturella called ICE's Miami office in a bid to ensure Ungaro's detention.
Ms Ungaro, Grenada's former United Nations ambassador, shares a teenage son with Mr Zampolli.
ICE official David Venturella is alleged to have asked for the former ambassador to be detained by ICE before she was released from custody on fraud charges.
According to sources, Venturella emphasised the importance of the case to someone in the White House inner-circle.
Zampolli admitted to the Times that he had reached out to Venturella after Ungaro was charged.
However, the envoy claimed the purpose of the call was to understand the wider implications of his ex-girlfriend's arrest.
He denies the call was in a bid to have her detained by immigration enforcement officers.
Mr Zampolli and Mr Trump were regularly pictured together in New York social circles during the 90s.
He claims the pair were at the Kit Kat Club in NYC in 1998 when Mr. Zampolli introduced Trump to his now-wife Melania, who was a model he had signed from Slovenia.
He had previously told the outlet that he and the US President shared a common interest: “We both like beautiful things.”
Venturella, a longtime private prison executive, went on to climb the ranks within the government's immigration department under the Trump administration.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, told the New York Times in a statement that Ms. Ungaro was detained and deported because she was on a long-expired visa.
It added that she had been charged with fraud.
“Any suggestion that she was arrested and removed for political reasons or favors is FALSE,” the statement said.