The Trump administration’s dramatic reversal with respect to the Jeffrey Epstein case continues to confuse and enthrall, with President Trump nonetheless doubling down that the whole “Epstein factor” is a “Democrat hoax.” Whereas Democrats actually have sought to benefit from state of affairs for partisan ends, the reversal in rhetoric –– significantly after transparency within the Epstein case was made an vital a part of Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign –– has seemingly defied clarification. Certainly, the timing of the reversal, which occurred after a protracted delay after which last reneging on releasing information in regards to the case, has been laborious for a lot of to swallow.
Amid the fall-out from the administration’s about-face, the Trump administration has sought to mitigate the failure to “launch the information” by publishing interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell (who has been desperately in search of a pardon or commuted sentence) and by issuing subpoenas to Invoice and Hillary Clinton, a transparent effort to divert “transparency” within the case into one thing extra politically favorable to Republicans.
Nonetheless, as posited in Limitless Hangout’s sequence “First Buddies,” Trump’s effort to change the narrative across the Epstein case could also be aimed toward shielding, not solely doubtlessly himself, however individuals in his shut social circle, together with not less than one determine at present serving in his administration. That determine, Paolo Zampolli –– the administration’s present Particular Envoy for World Partnerships –– is the topic of this investigation.
In Half I of this sequence, we met one in all Trump’s closest buddies from Italy: Flavio Briatore, a P2 lodge and Italian mafia-linked businessman with ties to outstanding Victoria’s Secret Angels, not less than one in all whom he launched to Epstein. On this second installment, the connections of Zampolli, one other Italian near each Trump and Briatore, are the main target. Zampolli has been within the information lately, not for the backdoor wheeling-and-dealing of his new, official U.S. authorities put up, however as a result of Trump and his spouse Melania declare to have been first launched by Zampolli amid assertions on the contrary that declare it had been Epstein.
As this investigation will present, Zampolli is deeply corrupt. From his beginnings as a protégé for the controversial modeling mogul John Casablancas, a person identified for his urge for food for what he known as “youngster ladies,” Zampolli grew his modeling empire with cash from Silvio Berlusconi, the corrupt Italian Prime Minister (and shut good friend of Flavio Briatore) who was pressured to resign for his sexual escapades with minors whereas in workplace. Zampolli would later comply with Casablanca’s instance and marry his spouse when she was 19, having met her not lengthy after she had flown as an under-age teen on Epstein’s “Lolita Specific.”
After leaving the world of modeling to work for Donald Trump within the early 2000s, Zampolli would turn out to be carefully affiliated with the Clintons in addition to the United Nations, the place he labored on their local weather change initiatives and on the event of the UN’s Sustainable Growth Targets, or SDGs. Particularly, Zampolli was a part of the group that developed SDG 14 “Life Beneath Water” alongside Stuart Beck, a determine carefully tied to CIA regime change operations in Palau, in addition to none aside from Ghislaine Maxwell and her TerraMar undertaking.
But, that isn’t all Zampolli would accomplish on the UN, as he would determine prominently in a significant UN financing scandal and likewise boasted shut ties to suspect citizenship-by-investment schemes that might later see one in all his shut colleagues arrested and one other lifeless below exceedingly weird circumstances. These colleagues had been taking bribes from an organized crime and CCP-linked Chinese language billionaire who was as soon as on the middle of the scandal that instantly intersects with most of Jeffrey Epstein’s seventeen visits to the Clinton White Home.
As soon as Trump would take workplace as president, Zampolli tried to re-brand so he might turn out to be an in depth ally of the president, regardless of persevering with to advertise overtly globalist UN insurance policies that ostensibly run counter to Trump’s “populist” campaigns in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Zampolli would see some minor appointments in Trump’s first time period, although he would as a substitute primarily play roles in each a significant UN scandal and within the Harvey Weinstein scandal throughout that point. Extra lately, a much less impeded Zampolli was appointed to a particular envoy place, one the place he –– behind the scenes –– makes the sort of backdoor offers which have marked his whole profession within the title of ginning up International Direct Funding (FDI) and forging commerce offers, particularly in his native nation of Italy. For instance of the attain of his behind-the-scenes affect, Zampolli was initially the thoughts that got here up with the thought of “resolving” the Israel-Palestine battle by turning the Gaza Strip right into a “Riviera” resort, years earlier than such a plan was uttered by his present boss Donald Trump or Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The story of Paolo Zampolli is in the end an indictment of how political corruption, typified by the Epstein case and different scandals, is so usually bipartisan regardless of media makes an attempt to color just one get together as sleaze, relying on an individual’s most well-liked echo chamber. If the American individuals had been to comprehend that the each public faces of the facility construction of their nation is corrupt, the Trump administration’s failure to supply information on the Epstein case would shortly make far more sense.
Zampolli’s Italian Beginnings and Early Connections
Paolo Zampolli was born in Milan to an elite household that had turn out to be even wealthier as a result of success of the Italian toy firm Harbert, which licensed American toys (i.e. Star Wars figures and Simple Bake ovens) in Italy. After his father died in a snowboarding accident when Zampolli was 18, he left faculty early to take over the corporate. Nonetheless, he shortly determined Milan was “too small” for him and his ambitions. In pursuit of one thing larger, he determined to promote his household’s firm to the Italian mogul and politician Silvio Berlusconi.
As famous in Half I of this sequence, Berlusconi was a member of the infamous freemasonic lodge P2, which was on the coronary heart of the European nexus that united organized crime in addition to U.S. and allied intelligence businesses with highly effective politicians and enterprise leaders, lots of whom had been fascist sympathizers. Berlusconi’s personal mysterious rise was reportedly enabled instantly by P2, as his early trajectory to turning into a billionaire and later Italy’s Prime Minister reportedly started with an infusion of capital from mysterious sources (masked by a maze of holding firms) shortly after he joined the lodge. Berlusconi’s political profession would later be marred by scandal after he was convicted of hiring an “underage prostitute” and internet hosting “bunga bunga” events the place he had orgies with younger ladies and teenage ladies. The acts that had been a spotlight of that case occurred whereas Berlusconi was Prime Minister.
Zampolli remained an admirer of Berlusconi from the late Nineteen Eighties by his loss of life in 2023. Zampolli additionally cultivated ties to one of many late Prime Minister’s closest buddies, Flavio Briatore, which persist to the current. The ties of Briatore to organized crime in addition to P2, the Epstein/Maxwell community and Donald Trump had been the main target of Half I of this sequence.
After Berlusconi purchased his firm, Zampolli turned concerned within the modeling business. Nonetheless, it’s not precisely clear how he first received his begin in mannequin administration. Zampolli himself has hinted that it started along with his childhood fascination with John Casablancas, the controversial founding father of Elite Mannequin Administration. Zampolli has claimed to have really spent holidays with Casablancas when he was a toddler vacationing at his household’s house in Ibiza, Spain. “I had John Casablancas spending the summer time [with] me after I was a child,” Zampolli as soon as informed Vainness Honest in 2001. The Vainness Honest article additionally notes that Zampolli later accompanied Casablancas on scouting journeys to Jap Europe, although the dates aren’t offered. Casablancas corroborated his early ties to Zampolli, as he was as soon as quoted as saying “I’ve identified Paolo from earlier than the start.”
By 1994, Zampolli had turn out to be the lead organizer of the Look of the 12 months contest in Ibiza. In line with Zampolli himself, he was chosen to prepare the competition in 1994 as a result of he “delivered to the desk Membership Med and Italian TV!” Membership Med, i.e. Membership Méditerranée, was acquired within the Sixties by a gaggle led by Baron Edmond de Rothschild after he “visited a Membership Med in Israel and appreciated it. Baron Edmond not solely paid Membership Med’s money owed, however acquired a 34 p.c stake within the rising tour operator.” Becoming a member of the French Rothschild pursuits in that group was the Gunzberg household, which – at that time – had intermarried with the organized crime-adjacent Bronfman household of Seagrams fame. The infamous frontman of the Financial institution of Credit score and Commerce Worldwide (BCCI) Ghaith Pharaon was additionally a shareholder in Membership Med and used his shares in it to safe strains of credit score from BCCI, which was tied to intelligence companies, drug cartels and arranged crime from its founding up till its collapse in 1991. Jeffrey Epstein, who additionally entered the world of modeling within the Nineteen Nineties and was a reported good friend of Zampolli’s, was tied to BCCI within the Nineteen Eighties as had been a few of Epstein’s 80s-era purchasers, similar to weapons supplier and intelligence asset Adnan Khashoggi. It’s unclear how Zampolli turned related with Membership Med, however his ties to Italian TV had been probably associated to Silvio Berlusconi, whose belongings included quite a few Italian tv channels and who has been known as “the daddy of Italian broadcasting.” This is able to recommend that Zampolli’s ties to Berlusconi endured after the sale of his household firm.
The annual Look of the 12 months contest that Zampolli organized was placed on by Casablanca’s Elite Mannequin Administration. Nonetheless, the highest Elite government that managed the competitions in the course of the late Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties was the then-head of the European department of Elite Fashions, Gerald Marie. Marie’s modeling company Paris Planning had merged with Casablanca’s company in 1986. Marie has since been accused of a litany of sexual assaults and rapes in the course of the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties by a number of well-known and lesser identified fashions, accusations which have been deemed credible by Marie’s spouse on the time. A few of Marie’s accusers have alleged that they had been “trafficked” by Marie to “rich males throughout Europe for functions wholly unrelated to modeling.” One among Marie’s accusers, Jill Dodd, has claimed that she and others “had been simply younger, and being taken benefit of, and groomed and bought by our brokers.” Dodd mentioned that, after being raped by Marie, the company set her up and pressured her right into a relationship with the aforementioned Adnan Khashoggi. Dodd says she later found that Marie’s modeling company on the time (Paris Planning) had been paid $50,000 by Khashoggi to rearrange their assembly. Marie was later reportedly concerned with MC2, the modeling company created by Jean Luc Brunel and funded by Jeffrey Epstein that turned a significant focus of investigations into Epstein’s intercourse trafficking.
Information protection of the Zampolli-organized 1994 Look of the 12 months contest famous that underage ladies from world wide had been requested to attend and had been flown out to the competition with out their mother and father, regardless of “being so younger.” Male “chaperones” had been then assigned to the kids, with one such “chaperone” named Pat Lanzillo remarking that he was reminded of how younger these “stunning” teenagers had been when some known as their mother and father crying. The report additionally notes how the kids had been taken to a “wild” nightclub on the island for his or her “night time off.”
Elite’s Look of 12 months contests, together with these hosted alongside Donald Trump on the then Trump-owned Plaza Resort in 1991 and 1992, have come below scrutiny after former contestants have alleged that they had been groomed, assaulted and raped by highly effective males within the business like Gerald Marie. Notably, Elite’s Casablancas met his third spouse at a 1993 Elite Mannequin competitors, Brazilian mannequin Aline Wermelinger –– then a school-girl –– who married Casablancas at 17. Casablancas was controversial for accusations that he exploited and abused lots of his younger and infrequently underage fashions and for frankly expressing his sexual choice for youngsters, whom he known as “youngster ladies.”
Whereas working the 1994 Elite competitors in Ibiza, the New York Instances reported that Zampolli was reportedly urged by Casablancas to maneuver to New York to work within the modeling enterprise there. Zampolli moved to New York Metropolis not lengthy after, arriving in 1995, and rented an condo in Union Sq.. He quickly met Donald Trump, “whose grandiosity he admired” and who, like Zampolli, “was a fixture on town’s nightclub circuit.” In discussing his earliest assembly with Trump, Zampolli as soon as mentioned “We each have a typical curiosity. We each like stunning issues.”
Although it’s unclear precisely how Zampolli first met Trump or who launched them, it was probably by John Casablancas or one other determine at Elite. Casablancas and Trump had been publicly affiliated for the reason that early Nineteen Nineties. As well as, Casablancas was identified to host events on the infamous nightclub Studio 54, whose co-owner Ian Schrager, was the son of an affiliate of mobster Meyer Lansky, and whose lawyer was additionally Trump’s lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn. Cohn was concerned in a intercourse blackmail ring on the Plaza Resort, which Trump later purchased after Cohn’s loss of life. He was additionally an in depth affiliate of New York organized crime pursuits and served as a lawyer for notorious mob bosses like Tony Salerno. Trump, in the course of the Nineteen Eighties, was a daily at Elite’s Studio 54 occasions. Throughout this era, Trump has been alleged to have continuously partied with two males specifically: Tom Barrack, a long-time Trump affiliate and founding father of Colony Capital who now serves as U.S. ambassador to Turkey, and Jeffrey Epstein, the now-notorious intercourse trafficker with ties to covert arms trafficking networks and monetary criminality throughout this era. 4 former Elite fashions have mentioned that Casablancas’ company required them to attend personal dinners with Trump within the late Nineteen Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties, although importantly none of them accused Trump of wrongdoing. It does, nonetheless, corroborate that Elite Mannequin Administration as an organization pushed its fashions to have interaction in social actions wholly unrelated to modeling with highly effective individuals.
In 1991, Trump and Casablancas struck a enterprise deal that noticed Trump’s Plaza Resort host the Look of the 12 months competitors. Trump’s daughter Ivanka, would later mannequin for Elite starting at age 15. Elite has since been criticized for sexualizing a then-teen Ivanka. Trump and Casablancas had been reportedly good buddies, although Trump, after turning into a politician, has claimed to have hardly identified Casablancas, who had — by that time — turn out to be notorious. Trump has espoused comparable rhetoric about one other one-time good friend who additionally later turned notorious – Jeffrey Epstein.
Regardless that Casablancas had been the obvious impetus for Zampolli’s transfer to New York, Zampolli didn’t work at Elite Fashions as soon as he was within the U.S. As an alternative, he turned co-president of Metropolitan Fashions after buying the company quickly after making the transfer. Metropolitan Fashions’ most well-known mannequin was Claudia Schiffer who met and turned engaged to the magician David Copperfield whereas with the company. Copperfield, a good friend of Zampolli’s, was additionally near Jeffrey Epstein. Proof reveals the 2 had been in shut contact within the early 2000s and Copperfield has additionally been named by not less than two Epstein victims who say they had been current for Epstein’s conferences with Copperfield. Copperfield has additionally, in no relation to the Epstein case, been accused of sexual misconduct by not less than a dozen ladies, three of whom mentioned they had been drugged by the well-known magician. Copperfield was later a member of a four-person ceremonial dinner that included Donald Trump, Melania Trump and Zampolli throughout which Trump provided Zampolli a job on the Trump Group.
That assembly occurred at Zampolli’s favourite New York restaurant Cipriani’s, the place Zampolli reportedly dines twice a day on daily basis when within the metropolis. Zampolli is a long-time shut private good friend of Cipriani’s proprietor Giuseppe Cipriani. The New York restaurant was opened by Cipriani’s father in 1985 after the success of the household’s restaurant and lodge companies in Italy. The Cipriani household has been accused of mob affiliations, with Giuseppe allegedly paying organized crime figures a good-looking sum to make the household’s points with labor unions “go away.” Giuseppe denied the fees.
Nonetheless, shortly thereafter it was reported that the Vice President of Cipriani, Dennis Pappas, had beforehand carried out jail time associated to his previous function because the “finance man” for the Colombo crime household –– a proven fact that would have been identified to the Cipriani household on the time of his rent. Pappas was indicted in 2006 for fraud whereas serving as a prime Cipriani government, prompting the corporate to distance themselves and declare that his title as firm Vice President was largely “ceremonial.” That very same yr, the Cipriani’s turned enterprise companions of Steve Witkoff, the New York actual property developer who now serves as Trump’s particular envoy to the Center East. A yr later, in 2007, Giuseppe and his father, Arrigo Cipriani, pled responsible to tax evasion in addition to submitting false tax returns.
After a short lived exile following his responsible plea and the revelation of Pappas’ mob ties, Giuseppe Cipriani returned to New York with the purpose of making a brand new “personal member’s lounge” away “from the prying eyes of the press.” One report describes this time as follows:
Lastly allowed to return to NYC, the Ciprianis insisted on being away from the cameras the place attainable and Giuseppe’s celeb buddies couldn’t agree extra. Leonardo di Caprio was a direct fan, spending an unlimited period of time at Socialista [the name of the private member’s lounge] and being joined by a famously endless rotation of Victoria[’s] Secret Fashions and fellow actors.
One wonders why Cipriani’s new bar would characteristic so many fashions related to one explicit model. Nonetheless, one clue could also be discovered within the entry for Cipriani in Jeffrey Epstein’s black ebook. Epstein, on the time, was carefully affiliated with Victoria’s Secret and its fashions by way of his extraordinarily shut and long-time private {and professional} relationship with the model’s proprietor, Leslie Wexner. Cipriani can also be, notably, a good friend of Flavio Briatore, the topic of Half I of this sequence, who launched the supermodel Naomi Campbell (then a fixture at Victoria’s Secret vogue reveals) to Epstein within the early 2000s. Epstein’s former butler Alfredo Rodriguez had circled Briatore’s title within the black ebook, fingering him and others as equipment and accomplices to Epstein’s intercourse crimes.
Cipriani was additionally good buddies with one other notorious intercourse felony, Harvey Weinstein. Not solely did the 2 buddies make investments in one another’s companies, however Weinstein reportedly used Cipriani’s restaurant and his personal member’s lounge Socialista as his “searching grounds,” per stories. Cipriani allegedly facilitated Weinstein’s predatory habits at these areas. For example, one accuser claimed that her good friend was prevented from going to seek out her by Cipriani’s safety after Weinstein had shortly whisked her off to an upstairs suite. These suites had been reportedly utilized by Weinstein as his private “intercourse pads” with Cipriani’s permission. Cipriani was questioned for his ties to Weinstein however was by no means charged. A number of of the lawsuits towards Weinstein for sexual assault and rape claimed that the occasions in query had occurred at Cipriani’s.
Zampolli himself additionally has an uncommon tie to the Weinstein scandal. In 2017, Zampolli contacted ladies he knew had been assaulted by Weinstein, urging them to contact lawyer Benjamin Brafman (and different attorneys at his agency Brafman & Associates) and file a lawsuit towards Weinstein. In an audio recording offered by one of many ladies to the New York Instances, Zampolli claims to have had a “falling-out” with Weinstein and that he wished to “bury” him, urging the girl to file go well with towards Weinstein. “You gonna be represented by the most important lawyer that existed in United States historical past. There are all these ladies, and so they’re getting collectively and so they’re being represented by Benjamin Brafman,” Zampolli mentioned within the recording. Among the ladies then went to Brafman’s agency the place they introduced proof and had been requested about their traumatic encounters with Weinstein. Nonetheless, it turned out Brafman had really been employed as Harvey Weinstein’s protection lawyer, not as a lawyer for victims, a transfer that was publicly introduced simply weeks later. Zampolli known as the recording of his dialog urging a sufferer to contact Brafman as “pretend information.”
The Modeling Mogul
Zampolli’s time at Metropolitan Fashions was reduce brief in 1997 after he sued his accomplice Thomas Zeumer, alleging that “company funds had been lacking.” Zampolli sued to dissolve his partnership with Zeumer, however the case was later dismissed. Zampolli then purchased American Fashions, which he became ID Fashions.
Within the 2011 Italian language ebook Gli Italiani di New York, Zampolli is quoted as follows about his method to the modeling enterprise:
The fashions should journey the world, they don’t seem to be sedentary – he says, sipping champagne along with his gaze at all times on his blackberry – we had an workplace in Brazil the place we discovered them after which moved them repeatedly from Miami to Berlin, from Paris to Milan, at all times retaining about seventy of them in New York. For years, the enterprise [i.e. ID models] has produced cash and turn out to be well-known on this planet of VIPs – from Invoice Clinton to the rulers of the Gulf as much as Shimon Peres to Donald Trump […].
It’s unclear how the “steady” motion of younger Brazilian ladies and ladies all through and between Europe and the U.S. would result in the enterprise turning into well-known to “VIPs,” with these VIPs having little to do with the modeling business as they’re main politicians. Nonetheless, it appears to align with a few of the actions wherein the company of his mentor, John Casablancas, had engaged. It additionally raises the chance that shall see, Zampolli’s modeling company might have been extra than simply that.
To begin with, the VIPs Zampolli names all have ties to the Epstein/Maxwell community. Former U.S. president Invoice Clinton has been extensively linked to Epstein and was identified to journey alongside teenagers on Epstein’s jet. Trump, near Zampolli and pleasant along with his obvious mentor Casablancas in addition to having as soon as been near Epstein, has additionally been accused of inappropriate habits in the direction of ladies and fashions. Trump, after divorcing Marla Maples, dated a ladies that had beforehand accompanied Jeffrey Epstein to the Clinton White Home below doubtful circumstances named Celina Midelfart. Trump later left Midelfart for one in all Zampolli’s fashions, Melania Knauss, now Melania Trump (extra on that later).
As famous in Half I of this sequence, Epstein’s butler Alfredo Rodriguez had circled Trump’s title within the now notorious black ebook, alleging that he was concerned in Epstein’s intercourse crimes in some capability. Shimon Peres, the previous Prime Minister of Israel, was near Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, Robert Maxwell, and maintained shut ties till his loss of life to her sister, Isabel Maxwell. Peres can also be the one that launched Ehud Barak to Epstein, in line with Barak (although different proof means that Barak and Epstein might have met a lot earlier). Barak, like Flavio Briatore and Trump, is a circled title in Epstein’s black ebook and different proof has advised he was linked to Epstein’s illicit exercise.
As well as, Zampolli’s declare that his company finds its fashions in Brazil is price analyzing. Elsewhere, Zampolli has advised that lots of the fashions he recruited from Brazil had been teenagers, which is unsurprising given his emulation of John Casablancas. In a single article the place Zampolli was requested about his most well-known former mannequin, present First Woman Melania Trump, he said that “She was mature, she was 24 years outdated, not like these 14 yr outdated fashions from the center of Brazil.” There’s additionally the truth that Zampolli’s spouse Amanda Ungaro –– a Brazilian mannequin who he married when she was 19 –– seems on the Epstein flight logs within the firm of Jean Luc Brunel when she was a minor.
Within the late Nineteen Nineties, Zampolli turned pleasant with Jean Luc Brunel, who rented an condo at Trump Tower in Manhattan. In line with vogue photographer Clayton Nelson, he recalled an incident at a restaurant the place he claims to have seen Brunel, Zampolli and Trump “insistently following a mannequin.” Clayton informed French media that he had “requested Brunel: ‘Do we’ve got a fucking downside right here?’, says the photographer. ‘Zere isn’t any downside’, replied the Frenchman.” One newspaper article from 1997 notes that Zampolli and Brunel had been identified to swim in comparable circles on the time, having been invited to a showcase for brand spanking new fashions by the company Mannequin Staff. The article reveals Mannequin Staff’s John Merriman posing with Brunel. It additionally notes that Zampolli had his birthday celebration that yr in Paris at a large condo on L’Avenue Foch, the road the place Epstein later purchased an 8 room condo in 2002 that might later characteristic prominently in intercourse trafficking probes towards him and Brunel in France.
Brunel, one other circled title in Epstein’s black ebook, is a widely known alleged confederate of Epstein’s trafficking operation who, like Epstein, “dedicated suicide” whereas awaiting trial in jail in 2022. Brunel had been arrested in 2020 and was accused of rape, trafficking and “pimping out” aspiring fashions to Epstein. The identical yr Brunel died in individual, the person who had facilitated Epstein’s visits to the Clinton White Home with numerous ladies, Mark Middleton, was additionally discovered lifeless, however his loss of life was labeled a suicide although the situation wherein his physique was discovered made suicide extraordinarily unlikely (extra on that later).
In line with one lawsuit filed towards Epstein in 2018, Brunel and his Epstein-funded modeling company MC2 was identified to “recruit ladies as younger as 13 from Europe, Ecuador and Brazil.” Brunel, on a flight accompanying Epstein from New York to Paris, introduced one underage Brazilian teen with him named Amanda Ungaro. The flight coincided with Epstein’s buy of his luxurious French condo later linked to trafficking. Ungaro, who was born in 1986, was underage on the time, both 16 or 17 years outdated.
A number of years later, Ungaro married Paolo Zampolli, although they declare to have been courting for a while earlier than their marriage. In 2001, one yr earlier than Ungaro flew on Epstein’s aircraft, Zampolli was quoted by Vainness Honest as courting a “younger mannequin” who lived in Brazil, anonymously sending her Easter eggs and teddy bears to Brazil earlier than they’d even “gotten collectively.” It’s unclear if the younger Brazilian mannequin alluded to right here is Ungaro, who would have been 15 or 16 on the time. Presumably, Zampolli and Ungaro had been launched by Brunel, however that is laborious to know as all details about Ungaro’s youth and modeling profession previous to her marriage to Zampolli –– e.g. how she met Zampolli, what businesses she first modeled for, and many others. –– is extremely troublesome to establish from publicly obtainable sources. The earliest on-line footage of her modeling and socializing are from 2005, when she was 19 (the age she married Zampolli).
Along with these connections, there may be additionally the truth that Adriana Ross, one in all Epstein’s alleged accomplices who remains to be protected below the phrases of the so-called “sweetheart deal” from Epstein’s 2007 prosecution was previously a mannequin of each Casablancas’ Elite Fashions and Zampolli’s ID fashions earlier than she joined Epstein’s entourage, in line with Epstein case paperwork. Ross said that her husband, who she met shortly after Elite introduced her to the U.S. from Poland, “had the contact” that put her in contact with ID Fashions. In a deposition, Ross pleaded the fifth when requested about her profession historical past between ID Fashions and Epstein. Ross was named an unindicted “attainable co-conspirator” in Epstein’s 2008 plea deal because of proof that she procured teenagers for Epstein, helped destroy and conceal proof previous to a police raid of his Palm Seashore house and decided how and when victims would meet with Epstein. One other former mannequin for Elite, Nicole Junkermann, additionally cultivated shut ties to Epstein in the course of the early 2000s, flying on his aircraft to the UK the place he met with two U.S. Senators below mysterious circumstances.
Zampolli himself can also be alleged to have had a relationship with Epstein previous to his turning into notorious, albeit according to controversial writer Michael Wolff. Nonetheless, following Epstein’s infamy, Zampolli made it clear to the New York Instances that he had lengthy identified of Epstein, claiming that “Epstein’s recruiters had been so rampant in Manhattan that they turned identified within the modeling and nightclub world as ‘Jeffrey’s ladies.’” The extent of the connection between Zampolli and Epstein is unknown, although Zampolli clearly swam in comparable circles in each the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s.
For example, along with his ties to Trump, Briatore and different Epstein buddies of the interval, Zampolli was near figures that took notorious flights on Epstein’s aircraft, like billionaire Ron Burkle, former president Invoice Clinton and long-time Clinton adviser Doug Band. Per Zampolli, he first met Hillary Clinton at Trump’s marriage ceremony to Melania after being launched by her long-time aide Huma Abedin, whom he claimed to know “from occasions in New York.” He claimed to have met Invoice Clinton “many, many, many” occasions earlier than Trump’s marriage ceremony, apparently alluding to his earlier quote of his modeling firm turning into well-known amongst “VIPs” together with Clinton. Nonetheless, in 2016 –– when Hillary Clinton and Trump had been each working for president –– Zampolli informed the New York Instances that Clinton “was not coming to events with me and the fashions.” Zampolli affectionately calls Doug Band “Dougie.” In a 2009 interview, Zampolli praised Invoice Clinton as a “genius” and said he additionally had a lot admiration for Hillary.
Zampolli was additionally near Ron Burkle within the early 2000s, the billionaire proprietor of a number of U.S. grocery store chains who employed Invoice Clinton at his agency Yucaipa Corporations shortly after Clinton left workplace. The pair then flew along with Clinton on Epstein’s aircraft to Africa, a visit which targeted on Clinton jump-starting Africa-focused initiatives of the Clinton Basis. Burkle was additionally carefully linked to the rapper Diddy and to the late pop singer Michael Jackson. Burkle, who additionally lent personal planes to Invoice Clinton, allegedly thought of shopping for Casablancas’ Elite Fashions in 2002, with reporting on the matter implying that Burkle deliberate to place Clinton answerable for it. (Notably, two years later, in 2004, Zampolli in addition to Jeffrey Epstein unsuccessfully bid to buy Elite.) Starting with this 2002 story about an alleged Burkle try to buy Elite, Burkle contacted his good friend Zampolli to assist handle what he considered as dangerous press. Zampolli organized a gathering between the article’s writer and Burkle. The assembly ended “amicably” with an affiliate of Burkle’s who joined the assembly paying the journalist $5,700 for shirts from his fledgling clothes firm. Zampolli provided his companies to Burkle greater than as soon as, together with after a information merchandise was printed in 2006 alleging that an unnamed “babe-loving billionaire” was checking the ages of the “younger fashions he invitations on his personal jet.” Burkle believed the billionaire in query was him.
Assembly Melania
Maybe Zampolli’s most well-known tie to the modeling world is thru his connection to Melania Knauss, now Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s third spouse and present First Woman of america. Zampolli is understood to have been chargeable for bringing Melania to america to work as a mannequin, later securing her a visa. Zampolli claims to have found Melania at a modeling company in 1995 and Melania has additionally said she first met Zampolli that yr. She subsequently obtained a H1-B visa for “expert” employees in October 1996 with Zampolli’s assist. Nonetheless, some stories have cited paperwork that Melania had carried out paid modeling work within the U.S. that had been organized by Zampolli’s company earlier than she had really acquired the H1-B visa that allowed her to legally work. On the time, Zampolli was nonetheless at Metropolitan Fashions, as he didn’t create ID Fashions till 1997. He has defended her visa software after scrutiny and accusations that the 2 ran an escort service within the Nineteen Nineties. That declare prompted Melania to efficiently sue the supply of that declare, the UK’s Day by day Mail, for defamation.
Zampolli is most frequently cited as the one that launched Melania to Donald Trump in 1998 at a celebration he was internet hosting on the Equipment Kat Membership (no relation to Ghislaine Maxwell’s UK-based group of the identical title), as each the Trumps and Zampolli have publicly made this declare. Nonetheless, Jeffrey Epstein is additionally alleged to have claimed that he first launched the pair.
It’s laborious to know which declare holds extra credibility, significantly in an period the place highly effective individuals have gone to nice lengths to obfuscate their ties to or distance themselves from Epstein. Nonetheless, it’s price noting that it’s extremely probably that Epstein launched Trump to his girlfriend previous to Melania, Celina Midelfart, a Norwegian heiress. Trump is claimed to have introduced Midelfart as his date to the Zampolli-hosted occasion the place he says he met Melania. Previous to courting Trump, Midelfart had accompanied Epstein to the Clinton White Home and was additionally later photographed with Epstein at a 1995 occasion at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago at age 22. Proof introduced at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial revealed that Midelfart had been one in all Epstein’s girlfriends within the Nineteen Nineties, together with her relationship overlapping with different Epstein girlfriends of that period – Francis Jardine (who Epstein additionally took to the White Home) and Maxwell herself. After courting Epstein, Midelfart started courting Trump. As well as, plainly Melania might have had extra interactions with Epstein than these confirmed by a handful of now well-known images. For example, Melania had her contact info listed in his black ebook, although it seems below the entry for her now husband Donald Trump. Notably, the circled black ebook entry for Trump solely lists one e-mail tackle, which was Melania’s then-personal e-mail (melaniakmelania@aol.com). Three numbers for Melania (misspelled Milania) are additionally listed.
Teaming up with Trump
After failing to acquire the Casablancas-founded Elite Mannequin Administration in 2004, Zampolli was employed by his good friend of roughly ten years, Donald Trump. Nonetheless, the opportunity of working with Trump had come up a yr prior, in November 2003, when Trump and Zampolli flew on a non-public aircraft collectively from Palm Seashore to New York. Per week later, per The Observer, the opportunity of a job was once more floated throughout a dinner at Cipriani’s that was attended by Trump, Melania Trump, Zampolli, and the aforementioned magician, David Copperfield. Zampolli remembered:
“[W]e had dinner collectively after the Victoria’s Secret present with David Copperfield. And we talked about it over dinner, and I mentioned, ‘Sure, I wish to do it.’ Then, three months later, I began to get the lessons, the license, the college at NYU the place I took the check [to be a realtor].”
In a separate interview, Zampolli said that Trump had informed him the next on the dinner:
“In case you lose your supermodel, you exit of enterprise. But when I lose my superintendent, I’ve a thousand searching for that job the following day. Paolo, you’re too good for the style business. It’s best to come work with me.”
Zampolli received the official “You’re employed” from the star of the fact TV sequence The Apprentice in late 2004, following his failed bid for Elite. He started working as Director of Worldwide Growth for the Trump Group. In that function, he was tasked with promoting luxurious condos in United States, mainly New York Metropolis, in addition to extra “unique initiatives” like Villa Trump in Brazil. He targeted on “tak[ing] care of the large, massive cash individuals” and made a behavior of entertaining potential consumers in his luxurious Maybach sports activities automobile.
Trump, when requested in regards to the rent of Zampolli in 2005, said that: “I’ve identified Paolo for a very long time. He’s received an awesome creativeness. And in actual property, when you don’t have an creativeness, it’s not going to work.” Casablancas, Zampolli’s former mentor, was additionally interviewed for a similar 2005 article in The Observer and argued that Paolo was “going to should undertaking a extra severe picture about himself,” shifting away from the picture he had cultivated as a playboy mannequin mogul in gossip columns to at least one extra befitting a severe, aspiring Manhattan enterprise tycoon.
Zampolli discovered working for Trump harder than he had anticipated. He informed The Observer that “to get a woman from the center of Brazil that doesn’t converse English [and] put her on the quilt of Vogue could be very totally different than constructing skyscrapers in Manhattan.” Zampolli additionally said that he discovered Trump to bea“powerful boss” in line with The New York Instances.
Zampolli ultimately left the Trump Group in 2006 to begin his personal actual property agency, the Paramount Group, which quickly made headlines for “utilizing former fashions as brokers to promote luxurious residences.” He mixed this along with his previous methods on the Trump Group, dazzling purchasers with luxurious automobile, speedboat and helicopter rides round New York Metropolis. Zampolli has claimed that his firm Paramount is “a division in brokerage” with Prudential Douglas Elliman (now referred to as Douglas Elliman since 2012). On the time Zampolli teamed up with Douglas Elliman, it was owned by Howard Lorber, who – like Zampolli – is an in depth good friend of Trump. Lorber purchased the agency from Andrew Farkas, one other Trump good friend, within the early 2000s. Douglas Elliman later sued Zampolli for a number of million {dollars} in 2015 for “hoarding” earnings and refusing to provide the agency their share.
Zampolli defined his method to actual property in 2007 to CNBC, stating that fashions are very “pushed” and that these “attractive girls, they meet essentially the most wealthy and highly effective individuals of the world, and a few of them, they hold this connection.”
One mannequin turned dealer working for Zampolli informed the BBC in 2007 that each professions require “unimaginable networking expertise” and that “when you mix the 2 industries, you’re left with the identical rolodex.” Then, she provides, “you simply undergo your rolodex and promote homes.” The interview additionally famous that his Paramount Group sits proper subsequent door to his ID fashions company.
When CNBC requested potential purchaser Raymond Dowd if being proven a property by a former prime mannequin made a distinction, he said that: “Completely. Involving supermodels within the course of actually ensures that there’s a dedication to the best high quality of clientele and of residing.” The mannequin dealer exhibiting Dowd round a property within the interview is Angela Everheart, the previous Sports activities Illustrated mannequin and actress.Everheart had beforehand been represented by Zampolli’s ID Fashions within the Nineteen Nineties and later turned referred to as one of many ladies who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual indecency.
In a separate interview with the BBC, Everheart said: “I do know quite a lot of very rich individuals and I do know individuals all around the world and that individuals are consistently searching for locations to dwell. If I can community my buddies into buildings such because the Cipriani constructing […] It’s a good way for me to make extra cash.” The constructing to which Everheart referred is the condo complicated that was a three way partnership between Giuseppe Cipriani and present envoy to the Center East, Steve Witkoff.
Different stories and interviews allude to Zampolli having had some notable successes in New York actual property, regardless of points attributable to the 2008 financial disaster. Zampolli, in a single interview, attributed his success in actual property because of his gross sales “rel[ying] lots on the purchasers of the Saudi royal household.” He particularly talked about descendants of the founder and former king of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud, who dominated from 1932 to 1953. As famous beforehand, Zampolli had said that his motion of fashions world wide had gained the eye of notable VIPS – amongst them Invoice Clinton, Shimon Peres and Donald Trump, but in addition “rulers of the Gulf.” As Zampolli and a few of his fashions sought to fuse their work within the modeling business with New York actual property, it appears probably that the sharing of rolodexes additionally prolonged to a few of the strongest figures in Saudi Arabia and maybe different Gulf kingdoms.
This was confirmed by a Brazilian report on Zampolli and his spouse Amanda Ungaro, which said that Zampolli bought a $35 million greenback house to Qatari royals whereas additionally serving in a “diplomatic” put up on the United Nations. Notably, that buy was a part of the Qatari emir’s “buying spree” of Manhattan actual property, which additionally noticed him buy 22 71st Avenue East –– a property primarily throughout the road from Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse.
An Unlikely Diplomat
A while between 2006 and 2007, Zampolli formally left the modeling and actual property industries to work with the United Nations. In a 2009 interview with Diario de Ibiza, Zampolli defined his reasoning as “decid[ing] to vary issues up and do enterprise with initiatives that I determine extra with.” He added that:
“I’ve at all times appreciated new challenges and I’ve been from the world of supermodels to the world of being an actual property dealer and promoting luxurious houses till three years in the past after I began working on the United Nations and I found a brand new world. I used to be within the Kyoto Protocol, power saving and renewable power.”
From September 2007 by November 2008, Zampolli labored on the Intergovernmental Renewable Power Group (IREO) –– a United Nations intergovernmental group (IGO) –– which, in line with its web site, aimed to “foster the collaboration of Governments, NGOs, IGOs, Academia, and the Personal Sector” in an effort to “educate the citizenries of the world on the dire want to vary its present patterns of power manufacturing and consumption.” In line with Zampolli’s web site, whereas at IREO, which works in affiliation with the UN’s Financial and Social Council, he served as its Govt Director along with being a “Particular Advisor on Local weather Change Points.” He additional described himself as an “Professional” in “Kyoto Protocol / Carbon Credit / Power Financial savings.”
In line with reporting from Internal Metropolis Press, in 2008, Zampolli sponsored a charity occasion on the United Nations, with $450 entrance charges benefiting the IREO. The previous modeling titan was described on the occasion as being characteristically “surrounded by fashions,” and the occasion itself boasted the presence of the aforementioned Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum, former fianceés of Flavio Briatore, as attendees. Additionally attending was the UN’s Common Meeting then-President Srgjan Kerim, alongside “fifty to sixty ambassadors,” in line with Zampolli.
Moreover, Grenada’s UN Ambassador, Angus Friday, was in attendance, with the article making observe that solely per week prior he had personally “squired Naomi Campbell by the [UN] constructing.” Friday joined the World Financial institution in 2009 earlier than persevering with work as Grenada’s Ambassador to america, together with being named the Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) for the UN, and joined The Waitt Institute because the Blue Financial system Director in 2020, run by Ghislaine Maxwell’s former boyfriend Ted Waitt and of relevance to Zampolli’s work with TerraMar, to be mentioned within the subsequent part. Friday turned Grenada’s ambassador to america in 2014, across the identical time that Zampolli’s spouse Amanda Ungaro turned one in all Grenada’s UN representatives.
Ungaro was not the one member of the Zampolli household with a prolonged relationship with governments of Caribbean nations –– together with Grenada particularly. Zampolli, as an example, was named Minister-Counsellor to the Everlasting Mission of the Commonwealth of Dominica in 2011, appointed as Ambassador below the Tourism Ministry of Grenada in 2012, and appointed the United Nation Ambassador and Ambassador For Oceans and Seas for the Commonwealth of Dominica in October 2013. As lately famous, Amanda Ungaro was later appointed as a UN Ambassador to Grenada in 2014. Zampolli and Ungaro later created a number of initiatives aimed toward lobbying the UN on “sustainable growth” and different points, similar to UN Youngsters and the World Empowerment Retirement Worldwide Group.
Across the time of the 2008 IREO fundraiser talked about above, Zampolli launched Inexperienced Inc. in an effort to “[Build] a Greener World By way of Various Power & Options.” The web site additionally claimed that Inexperienced Inc. is a “strategic accomplice” of the United Nations Affiliation in Brazil. Zampolli moreover acted as a particular advisory to Brazil’s UN group, Anubra. Zampolli’s Haute Residing writer profile claims Inexperienced Inc. was based in 2009 in an effort to promote “inexperienced merchandise to heads of states and municipalities.” Regardless of the posturing of altruistic motives, Zampolli later defined in an interview with Diario de Ibiza that Inexperienced Inc. is “not a charity enterprise,” and that “it’s good enterprise.” The identical interview describes the corporate’s prospects as “heads of state, governors, and mayors,” and that Inexperienced Inc. had “entered into an settlement with [the multinational electronics conglomerate] Phillips to produce the corporate.”
Zampolli additionally said he was working carefully with Barack Obama on renewables, however claimed his administration had not gone far sufficient in pushing sure merchandise that might offset local weather change, similar to hybrid automobiles and ethanol. Alongside Obama and Trump, Zampolli additionally boasted shut ties to the “genius” Clintons. His shut contacts with former and future U.S. presidents is maybe finest summed up by his personal admission that “the pure path [of success] is to comply with the path of energy.” He furthered, that “the key to advancing your profession and your enterprise is to satisfy more and more vital individuals.”
In 2012, Zampolli was pictured and famous as being a delegation member of the Clinton Local weather Change Initiative, which is instantly affiliated with The Clinton Basis, in line with the inspiration’s web site. Additionally amongst this delegation sat legal professional Jan Hartke, who ultimately turned the World Director for Clear Power on the Clinton Local weather Initiative. Beforehand, between 1975 by 1990, Hartke acted because the Chief Public Defender, State Treasurer, and Director of the Governor’s Washington, DC Workplace for New Mexico. A lot of Hartke’s service for New Mexico overlapped with the a number of gubernatorial stints of Governor Bruce King, with the Sante Fe New Mexican noting in April 1980 that the 2 shared a “particular sort of relationship.” In 1993, King bought Epstein the land for the now-infamous Zorro Ranch, with the overwhelming majority of the land surrounding the ranch nonetheless owned by members of the King household, apart from a plot of land that was purchased by vogue icon and one in all Epstein’s Black Ebook contacts, Tom Ford, in 2001.
In 1992, Harkte had additionally based and acted as President for the Earth Council Alliance (ECA), alongside Dr. David Jhirad –– a Vice President and Particular Adviser on Power and Local weather Change to The Rockefeller Basis; a Vice President for Science and Analysis on the World Sources Institute; and an advisor to the alleged CIA-cut out USAID. Jhirad was changed as ECA Chairman by 2025 Nobel Prize nominee Lelei Lelaulu, who amongst different UN stints, was a part of “the small group hand-picked to reform the United Nations within the Nineteen Nineties” as appearing Secretary of the Activity Pressure to Re-orient UN Public Data Actions. Lelaulu moreover served on the Board of Administrators of the Peter Thiel-founded Seasteading Institute, and notably was a founding Staff Member of Blue Guardians –– a partnership “with DigitalGlobe, SIDS DOCK, Clinton Local weather Initiative, the World Financial institution, The Nature Conservancy,” along with Waitt Basis and Google Ocean, amongst others.
The Waitt Basis was based by Ted Waitt, who dated Ghislaine Maxwell for practically 7 years between 2003 and 2010, and was reportedly chargeable for connecting Maxwell with ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt at an occasion held by the Clintons –– probably a Clinton World Initiative (CGI) occasion. As described by the CGI, Blue Guardians was shaped in 2015 as a response to “the shortage of reasonably priced, high-quality geospatial and local weather information” wanted by SIDS [Small Island Developing States] to “plan, finance, and handle urgently wanted mitigation and adaptation applications.” Within the context of the necessity for “geospatial and local weather information,” Maxwell’s subsequent romantic accomplice after Waitt, Scott Borgerson (whom she would later marry), was the founder and CEO of the Eric Schmidt-funded, maritime information specialist firm CargoMetrics (For extra details about CargoMetrics and its relevance, see Limitless Hangout’s investigation “The Chain of Issuance”). Blue Guardians is notable within the context of Zampolli’s Sustainable Oceans Alliance (SOA) in that it served as a near-identical blueprint for one in all his founding SOA companions –– the now-infamous TerraMar Venture, began by Epstein’s confederate Ghislaine Maxwell (to be defined intimately beneath). Different Blue Guardian organizations, such because the Clinton philanthropies and Google Ocean, additionally boasted ties to TerraMar.
It’s also vital to remind readers that Epstein himself had quite a few connections to The Clinton Basis, together with an announcement from his attorneys claiming “Mr. Epstein was a part of the unique group that conceived The Clinton World Initiative” in a July 2007 letter, in line with reporting from Fox Information. Maxwell has since claimed that she was additionally “very central” to the “startup” of the CGI. It was additionally reported that Epstein donated $25,000 on to the inspiration, as revealed by a whistle-blower by way of The Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists, inside the “documented $81 million” routed from “HSBC Swiss accounts to The Clinton Basis,” together with “numerous accounts totaling $3.5 million” held personally by Epstein.
As famous in Half I of this sequence, the “HSBC Swiss accounts” had been born out of the scandal-ridden banking pursuits of Edmond Safra, who seems in Epstein’s black ebook and was an in depth good friend of Ghislaine Maxwell’s father Robert Maxwell. Half I additionally famous that Flavio Briatore, an in depth good friend of Zampolli’s and Trump’s who additionally boasted vital ties to Epstein, held accounts on the identical financial institution, overlapping with the time of his involvement in Formula1 race-fixing. When HSBC took over Safra’s banking establishments, it additionally inherited a few of Safra’s “rich worldwide purchasers,” which seems to have included Epstein.
There was surprisingly little curiosity in pursuing HSBC for its Epstein ties, with J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Financial institution having been extra publicly linked to Epstein by way of courtroom instances that had been later settled out of courtroom. Nonetheless, HSBC has a historical past of being shielded from prosecution, significantly after it took over Safra’s banking establishments. For example, HSBC’s direct involvement in cash laundering for drug cartels was not prosecuted by then-head of the Financial institution of England Mark Carney, who later turned a number one architect of UN “inexperienced” finance and is now Prime Minister of Canada (and who additionally was identified to have socialized with Ghislaine Maxwell whereas he was main the Financial institution of England).
Along with Epstein’s funding of the Clinton Basis and his alleged function in serving to create CGI, Clinton has admitted to flying on Epstein’s personal jet 4 occasions in 2002 and 2003 whereas doing work for The Clinton Basis. His spouse Hillary twice employed Ghislaine Maxwell’s nephew, Alexander Djerassi –– first throughout her 2008 marketing campaign, and secondly on the State Division throughout her tenure as Secretary of State within the Obama administration. Djerassi, in line with his bio from his stint as an affiliate on the Carnegie Endowment, served as a “U.S. consultant to the Buddies of Libya conferences, Buddies of the Syrian Individuals conferences, U.S.-GCC Strategic Coordination Discussion board, and several other UN Common Assemblies.” Notably, Djerassi joined Carnegie shortly after Invoice Burns, who later served as Biden’s CIA Director, turned the group’s president. Burns, who was concerned with the UN whereas at Carnegie, had met with Epstein shortly earlier than he joined the group. Carnegie’s chair on the time was Penny Pritzker, a member of the Chicago-based household with historic ties to organized crime and the CIA-linked Fort financial institution. A few of its members had been very near Epstein (that is mentioned extra intimately within the subsequent part of this piece).
It’s price noting that Epstein himself appeared to have had some vital intersections with the United Nations. For example, the Wall Avenue Journal reported that, in the course of the week of the United Nations Common Meeting, “a gradual stream of dignitaries could possibly be seen arriving at Mr. Epstein’s townhouse” in New York. It’s unclear why so many officers sought to satisfy with Epstein, although one chance lies in Epstein’s claims to have managed sovereign wealth funds for oil-rich nations within the Center East.
As well as, Epstein cultivated shut ties to the Worldwide Peace Institute (IPI), which collaborates carefully with the United Nations and was created in 1970 with direct UN-backing and funding from the Forbes household, significantly Ruth Forbes Younger. Younger was the mom of Michael Paine, who — alongside along with his spouse Ruth — are main individuals of curiosity within the conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy in 1963. Epstein funded the IPI to the tune of $650,000 from 2011 to 2019 and likewise gave the IPI’s then-chairman, Terje Rød-Larsen, a private mortgage of $130,000 in 2013. Rød-Larsen later stepped down when Epstein’s donations to IPI and to Rød-Larsen had been made public.
Moreover, Leon Black, an in depth affiliate of Epstein each financially and personally, and his personal fairness agency Apollo World Administration had been concerned with managing the UN Joint Workers Pension Fund. Nonetheless, the Fund later put Apollo on a “blacklist” after the extent of Black’s ties to Epstein had been reported in 2021. Apollo remained on the listing even after an inside report at Apollo sought to exonerate Black of wrong-doing tied to Epstein. That inside Apollo report was notably authored by three Apollo board members, together with Alvin “Buzzy” Krongard, a former government director of the CIA who can also be, by the way, a key suspect within the now memory-holed 9/11 insider buying and selling scandal.
Epstein’s brother Mark Epstein additionally served as vice-chairman of the board of one other non-profit with shut ties to the UN, the Humpty Dumpty Institute. Additionally on the board of Humpty Dumpty, nonetheless at the moment, is Amir Dossal, who — as we will see — labored carefully with each Zampolli and Ghislaine Maxwell on efforts intimately involving Maxwell’s TerraMar undertaking.
Citizenship for Sale
Along with the ties detailed above that present Zampolli’s work on the UN intersected with the Clinton philanthropies, there may be extra to debate concerning Zampolli and different elements of the Epstein-Clinton relationship. As talked about within the earlier part, Paolo Zampolli was appointed Minister-Counsellor to the Everlasting Mission of the Commonwealth of Dominica in 2011. Zampolli first turned related to Dominica’s authorities by way of his ties to actual property. He did so by securing the development of a luxurious resort within the island nation, which boasted an financial passport program whereby foreigners might get hold of citizenship within the nation by buying properties on the complicated.
That resort was constructed by Vary Developments, who’ve additionally constructed luxurious motels in Grenada and St. Kitts –– island nations to which Zampolli and his spouse Amanda Ungaro, as beforehand famous, have vital connections. As said beforehand, Ungaro labored for Grenada’s everlasting mission to the UN whereas Zampolli has claimed to have represented St. Kitts along with Dominica and Grenada.
Vary has additionally constructed luxurious motels with comparable financial passport schemes for the Hyatt Resort Group, which is run by Tom Pritzker, a long-time and shut good friend of Jeffrey Epstein who was subpoenaed as a part of the USVI-J.P. Morgan case, is in the black ebook, and has been accused of sexual misconduct by outstanding victims. As famous in One Nation Beneath Blackmail, the Pritzker household have longstanding ties to organized crime and had been additionally carefully related to the mob-linked offshore Caribbean financial institution, Fort Financial institution, the administration of which was dominated by two figures specifically: Burton Kanter, a lawyer for the Pritzkers, and CIA-OSS veteran Paul Helliwell.
Zampolli later sued Vary Developments claiming he had not been offered his promised 5% of the earnings of the “800 household passports” affiliated with the Dominica resort whose building he helped facilitate. Vary Developments claimed that Zampolli couldn’t be paid till after the undertaking was totally accomplished and accounts closed. Notably, within the lawsuit, Zampolli claimed that prime figures at Vary Developments “are identified to promote passports to Iran, Yemen, and Sudan to bypass U.S. Treasury sanctions and United Nations Safety Council sanctions.” One wonders if Zampolli would have been so involved about this side of the passport gross sales if he had been paid.
Zampolli appeared to squeal on a poorly stored secret –– one thing was shady about Dominica’s financial passport scheme on the whole. Certainly, a number of suspect figures apart from Zampolli got diplomatic positions by Dominican Prime Minister Skerrit Roosevelt both earlier than or after shopping for citizenship within the nation. The outlet PassBlue famous that this “passport plan [had first] began with a Dominica ambassador to China, David King Hsiu, in line with Wikileaks.” Different sources observe that Hsiu is a Chinese language nationwide who was apparently given the put up of being ambassador to China after pitching the federal government of Dominica on utilizing luxurious actual property initiatives to promote passports to Chinese language residents particularly. As famous above, this identical mannequin would additionally later result in Zampolli being given a put up by Dominica. PassBlue added that:
The plan [as devised by Hsiu] was ostensibly devised to carry investments into tourism for Dominica. However the dealings, wherein Chinese language households might purchase a passport for $100,000 every, reportedly benefited solely prime gamers within the preparations.
Maybe essentially the most jarring a part of the PassBlue article reads as follows:
In 2015, in a much-publicized case that’s nonetheless reverberating, a Chinese language billionaire, Ng Lap Seng, was arrested by the FBI in relation to a UN bribery investigation involving payoffs to John Ashe, who was a former president of the UN Common Meeting in addition to the UN ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda. Ashe was accused of utilizing his Meeting put up to purchase affect within the UN to allow an actual property growth in Macau by Ng Lap Seng. [Prime Minister Roosevelt] Skerrit of Dominica was photographed with Ng shortly earlier than his arrest. [Reminder: Skerrit’s government had appointed Zampolli to represent Dominica at the UN in 2011 and again in 2013]
Ashe died a pauper in 2016 in a freak accident at house, after being indicted by the US authorities and residing below home arrest in Westchester County, New York. Ng Lap Seng is to face trial this month, as will an adviser to him, who’s in plea talks. Francis Lorenzo, a Dominican Republic ambassador to the UN accused within the fraud case, pleaded responsible final yr.
Lorenzo, regardless of being one of many UN officers that Seng had bribed and who carried out favors for him whereas representing Dominica, ended up serving no jail time because of his testimony at Seng’s trial. As documented tirelessly by Internal Metropolis Press (apparently the one information outlet prepared to sort out the story on the time), the decision for Lorenzo was simply the tip of the iceberg for what amounted to an enormous cover-up of UN corruption that shielded the corrupt UN officers concerned, allegedly together with UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres, whereas as a substitute solely going after the bribers (see right here, right here, right here and right here).
Lorenzo and Zampolli had been very shut, serving collectively as UN representatives for Dominica, and likewise on a private degree, with Lorenzo main the singing of “Comfortable Birthday” to Zampolli at his birthday celebration in 2012. At that occasion, Zampolli was pictured posing with Lorenzo and the opposite determine Seng had bribed, John Ashe. Nonetheless, as famous above, Ashe, not like Lorenzo, suffered an unlucky destiny because of a “freak accident.” The official reason behind loss of life for Ashe was that he had died because of “a weightlifting accident when a barbell he was lifting from a bench dropped on his neck.” To additional quote from an Related Press report:
“Dr. Kunjlata Ashar, Westchester County’s health worker, mentioned the reason for loss of life — traumatic asphyxia — was decided throughout an post-mortem, although she didn’t carry out the process herself and didn’t have extra particulars. It was deemed an accident based mostly on a mix of knowledge from the post-mortem and an investigation by the Dobbs Ferry Police Division, officers mentioned. The police division mentioned in an announcement that the loss of life seems unintended, however offered little info in any other case.”
Ashe’s unlucky “accident” and affiliation with Ng Lap Seng are significantly related to this story as Ng Lap Seng was additionally carefully affiliated with Mark Middleton, who additionally died below exceedingly odd circumstances. Each Seng and Middleton had been key figures within the broader “Chinagate” scandal that was intimately associated to Jeffrey Epstein’s 17 visits to the Clinton White Home within the Nineteen Nineties.
Ng Lap Seng is an actual property developer from Macau whose unbelievable rag-to-riches story was later defined by U.S. Congressional investigators as the results of his turning into a “entrance for municipal and provincial authorities within the Individuals’s Republic of China.” He ultimately turned a member of the Chinese language Individuals’s Political Consultative Convention, an advisory board for the Chinese language Communist Celebration, or CCP. His actual property holdings in Macau, just like the Fortuna lodge, had been referred to as “massage-table dance-karaoke” spots the place vital Chinese language officers, Chinese language navy figures and Triad gangsters mingled. As famous in One Nation Beneath Blackmail, Fortuna specifically seems to have had trafficked ladies work their “therapeutic massage tables” and should have blackmailed outstanding politicians who frequented it.
Seng later teamed up with a businessman based mostly in Little Rock, Arkansas named Charlie Trie in a failed enterprise that noticed them group up with Rose Legislation agency’s C. Joseph Giroir. Rose, by the way, was the regulation agency the place Hillary Clinton and figures near her and husband, like Vince Foster and Webster Hubbell, additionally labored. Trie, in the course of the Clinton administration, would set up a presence in Washington that he and Seng later used to courtroom Clinton White Home figures like Mark Middleton. The proof reveals that Trie acted as a entrance for Seng in these operations.
Middleton, who was then serving as a particular assistant to President Clinton, would later emerge as a central determine within the scandal that concerned Seng, Trie and others that’s now remembered as “Chinagate.” Whereas that scandal is finest identified for the corrupt dealings between Trie and his associates and the Democratic Nationwide Committee, the fact is that it was a part of a a lot bigger scandal involving the covert trafficking of Chinese language arms into the U.S. in change for the illicit switch of delicate U.S. navy expertise to the Chinese language navy.
Whereas Middleton was embroiled with figures like Trie and Seng and the broader nexus of Chinagate, he was additionally commonly assembly with Jeffrey Epstein on the White Home. Middleton accounts for the overwhelming majority of Epstein’s 17 visits to the Clinton White Home, which started in 1993 and continued by January 1995. Middleton left his put up on the White Home in February 1995. Middleton additionally flew on Epstein’s personal jet in Could 1994. Throughout this time, Epstein had full management over Leslie Wexner’s affairs by way of energy of legal professional and had helped Wexner’s enterprise pursuits take de facto management of the CIA-linked airline Southern Air Transport, which started making common flights between Columbus, OH and Hong Kong. Southern Air Transport had a historical past of transporting medicine and weapons for the CIA and Iran-Contra community and Epstein had beforehand been carefully affiliated with each outstanding weapons sellers (i.e. Douglas Leese and Adnan Khashoggi) and the Iran-Contra community.
A number of months after UK media reported on the extent of Epstein’s conferences with Middleton on the Clinton White home, Middleton was discovered lifeless of an alleged “suicide.” Police claimed that he had each hung himself with an extension wire and shot himself within the chest. An Arkansas choose quickly sealed photos and different proof from the crime scene to stop the unfold of “conspiracy theories.”
In the end, the ties of Dominica’s financial passport scheme to figures like Ng Lap Seng and the broader community behind “Chinagate”, in addition to the truth that two figures caught up in scandals with Seng (Ashe and Middleton) died below very suspicious circumstances, recommend that the scheme was utilized by irreputable figures for the aim of buying citizenship that might allow them to have interaction in offshore, felony exercise.
Zampolli, TerraMar and the SDGs
Except for his ties to Dominica, the previous mannequin mogul would go on to carry quite a few positions in affiliation with the UN, together with affiliate organizations. For example, as famous earlier, Zampolli was a particular advisor to Brazil’s Anubra and likewise had ties to the UN Basis, which is closely funded by CNN founder and billionaire Ted Turner in addition to the Gates Basis. Zampolli authored a 2010 piece for Haute Residing describing a non-public ceremony he attended that was hosted by the United Nations Basis to “congratulate Amir Dossal on his ‘commencement’ from the United Nations as government director on the UN Workplace for Partnerships.” Dossal had first joined the UN in 1985. Billionaire Ted Turner –– controversial for his views on inhabitants management and globalism –– introduced Dossal with a test on the ceremony and took time to take a selfie with Zampolli. Different notable friends on the get together included Max and Stefania Girombelli of the Cipriani Group, Christiana Falcone of the World Financial Discussion board, president of the UN Basis Senator Tim Wirth, and Anne Marie Miller of Zampolli’s Inexperienced Inc. Additionally current was supermodel Petra Nemcova, a former Victoria’s Secret mannequin who began her modeling profession with Subsequent Fashions, an company co-founded by Jean Luc Brunel in 1989 and which Brunel was intimately concerned with till 1996.
The occasion’s honoree, Amir Dossal, has different connections and ties to Zampolli which might be price noting. Simply earlier than leaving the UN, Dossal had shaped the World Partnerships Discussion board, described by Zampolli as a “non-profit platform to construct revolutionary public-private partnerships to deal with numerous world challenges.” Dossal’s World Partnerships Discussion board was a founding member of the Sustainable Oceans Alliance (SOA), a partnership created in 2013 between Paolo Zampolli, listed because the “Particular Consultant for the Ministry of International Affairs and Worldwide Enterprise of Grenada,” Dossal’s World Partnerships Discussion board, the UN Ambassador of Palau Stuart Beck, and Ghislaine Maxwell’s TerraMar Venture. Dossal, Beck and the aforementioned Scott Borgerson, had been all board members of TerraMar. Dossal and Zampolli seemed to be fairly shut on this period, as Dossal was chosen to provide a speech to party-goers praising Zampolli at his birthday celebration in 2014.
The TerraMar Venture was formally launched a yr earlier than the SOA in September 2012 on the Blue Ocean Movie Competition & Conservation Convention in Monterey, CA. It was the end result of two years of planning by Maxwell. Notably, throughout these “two years,” Ghislaine’s sister, Isabel Maxwell, was listed because the President of the Blue World Alliance –– a corporation co-founded by Isabel’s then-husband, Al Seckel, and described as “a non-profit group in search of tractable options to environmental issues regarding oceans.” Seckel was a co-founder of the Mindshift convention with Epstein –– the host of conferences which featured Zampolli’s good good friend Brock Pierce, amongst others –– earlier than his suspicious loss of life after falling off a cliff in France in 2015. Whereas not a lot is understood about Blue World Alliance, it’s extremely attainable the idea first began with Isabel Maxwell earlier than it was reborn as her youthful “socialite” sister’s TerraMar Venture.
Ghislaine’s non-profit group provided digital citizenship for the oceans in an effort to uphold and shield the excessive seas. Its web site said that its “primary purpose is to vary attitudes and governance because it pertains to the world’s largest ecosystem.” The group made observe of the UN’s Legislation of the Sea Conference, which “declares that the worldwide seabed and its mineral sources are the frequent heritage of mankind and requires actions within the worldwide seabed to be carried out ‘for the good thing about mankind’.” Whereas not a lot is in the end identified in regards to the success of the undertaking, the triangulation of the UN’s affect on ocean governance, the rights of use for the sources of the seas, and the implications of issuing passports and citizenry for worldwide waters all culminated in a corporation that was run by UN stalwarts, political influencers, a convicted human trafficker, and technologic information brokers. Beneath this context, Zampolli’s shut ties to such a undertaking by the Sustainable Oceans Alliance is smart given his earlier strains of labor on the UN, the modeling business, his ties to heads of state, and his overlaps with the prolonged Epstein community.
On that observe, TerraMar boasted connections to Epstein that went past Maxwell herself. For example, Dana Burns –– an assistant to Maxwell in New York who was a founding member of the Board of Administrators for the TerraMar Venture –– appeared on the logs for 2 Epstein flights when 19 years outdated. In line with testimony from Epstein’s butler, Janusz Banasiak –– whose spouse and stepdaughter labored for Ivana Trump –– Burns additionally labored briefly for Epstein’s Florida Science Basis, and The Day by day Beast additional related her to “a Manhattan constructing the place Epstein was identified to accommodate fashions.”
Stuart Beck, a TerraMar board member, co-chair of the Sustainable Oceans Alliance, and UN Ambassador of Palau, was an in depth colleague of Zampolli’s on the UN. Beck was the former President of Granite Broadcasting –– a New York tv firm based by 17-year Goldman Sachs veteran W. Don Cornwell, who acted as Director of Blue Meridian Companions and later served on the boards of Pfizer, AIG and Massive Brothers Massive Sisters NYC, amongst others. Beck accompanied Maxwell to the UN on not less than two events, together with a really telling dialogue in June 2013 on behalf of TerraMar and the UN’s Sustainable Growth Targets (SDGs):
“There are going to be 193 votes on the Common Meeting in 2015 to determine what are the Sustainable Growth Targets. So our final goal has received to be these 193. This isn’t a ‘slam dunk’, there are quite a lot of nations, it appears, who aren’t in favour of an Oceans SDG, they’ve their very own priorities, they’re landlocked, they’re extra involved with MDG kind points for instance. So these are the final word objects of our marketing campaign. We want these votes.” – Stuart Beck June 25, 2013 on the United Nations
The search for extra votes on world-changing regulation because it pertains to the UN’s energy over the excessive seas had been the preliminary impetus for Beck’s function on the UN on behalf of Palau. An article by the Tampa Bay Instances printed in July 2005 quotes Beck articulating his push for the nation to take their seat on the United Nations:
“I mentioned to them, ‘Look, you don’t produce something, you don’t manufacture something, no one’s after your labor pool, you don’t have something that anybody desires, the U.S. already has protection and basing rights, so the one factor of worth you could have is your U.N. Vote’.”
Traditionally, the connection between the UN, the U.S. and Palau is intertwined, beginning in 1947 with the UN “assign[ing] america administering authority over the Belief Territory of the Pacific Islands (Belief Territory), which included what’s now the Republic of Palau (Palau).” Notably, Palau has a fairly distinctive immigration deal with america, having signed a Compact of Free Affiliation (COFA) in 1982. The settlement went into impact in October 1994 and permits Palauan residents straightforward entrance to america, an indefinite size of keep, the suitable to dwell, research and work, and even entry to a social safety quantity. A part of this COFA included an settlement that “america has full authority and duty for protection and safety issues in and regarding Palau.”
In line with the CIA’s world factbook, this protection association led to an modification to the Palau structure, initially signed in 1981, which “said that Palau was a nuclear-free nation.” Following “a constitutional modification and eighth referendum in 1993,” the COFA was formally ratified in 1994. In December 1994, solely two months after this Compact went into impact, Palau turned a member state of the United Nations. Beck, a lawyer, had helped Palau draft the COFA, and was granted honorary citizenship for his contributions.
Sadly for the residents of Palau, the story for a way this modification got here to be is hardly as harmless because the CIA’s web site makes it out to be. For starters, the rationale for apprehension concerning nuclear arms on the tiny island comes downstream from the U.S. Division of Protection having used the neighboring Marshall Islands as a nuclear check web site from 1946 by 1958, resulting in considerations about fallout and irradiation. An excellent-majority of Palauans thus handed a nuclear-free structure, instantly contradicting the DoD’s “plans to relocate US ahead bases from the Philippines to Micronesia” and the Pentagon’s insurance policies to “neither verify nor deny that its crafts are nuclear-powered or armed.” A fairly telling excerpt from an article on Pacific.Scoop, based mostly on work by Ed Rampell, outlines how the White Home and the CIA instantly created the surroundings for regime change in an effort to safe Palau as a navy outpost:
“The battle got here to a head whereas George Herbert Walker Bush, veteran of WWII’s Palau marketing campaign, was CIA Director and within the Govt Department. In line with Bob Woodward in The Washington Submit, CIA chief George Herbert Walker Bush presided over unlawful bugging of Micronesian political standing negotiations within the Seventies, ordered by Henry Kissinger, carried out by Bush ally Brent Scowcroft, and aimed toward ‘exerting covert affect on key parts of the Micronesian independence motion.’
Whereas Vice-President George Herbert Walker Bush had his longtime crony Fred Zeder, an ex-Pacific fighter pilot and Texas businessman, appointed the President’s private consultant for Micronesian standing negotiations in 1982. Zeder had been admitted to the Younger Presidents’ Organisation in 1960 on the College of Michigan, the place his roommate was Prescott S. Bush Jr., the brother of George Bush Senior…
Zeder allegedly performed a task in bankrupting tiny Palau by supporting IPSECO – an obvious covert motion disguised as an influence plant, with turbines and a gasoline farm far too massive for Palau’s 15,000 individuals (however giant sufficient to supply energy/gasoline for future attainable US navy bases). The one means the rising nation might repay its huge energy debt was by approving a treaty known as the Compact of Free Affiliation. The accord would nullify Palau’s anti-nuclear structure – in change for US support…
On June 30, 1985, [Palauan] President Haruo Remeliik was assassinated, which reopened the then-deadlocked treaty negotiations. Shortly after the liquidation, then-Vice-President Bush personally flew to Saipan[, Palau], the place the Belief Territory administration was headquartered, to reopen stalled negotiations, and struck a brand new deal.”
On this journey, in October 1985, then-VP Bush traveled to Palau to temporary a delegation of Micronesian officers on the COFA:
“We stand on the edge of a brand new period. Quickly, very quickly we hope, america Congress can have accomplished its mandated program of evaluate of the Compact of Free Affiliation and can cross it with all the commitments and important parts intact. As quickly as that’s achieved, we are going to go to the United Nations to safe termination of the trusteeship. When the Belief Territory is dissolved, our mission of changing trusteeship with self-government can have been achieved.”
Regardless of Bush’s speech, antinuclear activists had been capable of strike down the treaty in courtroom, retaining Palau’s standing because the world’s first nuclear-free nation. Shortly after, in 1987, terrorists “firebombed and shot Pacific pacifists,” and “besieged Palau’s congress.” A U.S. Congressional Common Accounting Workplace investigation “discovered a $2 million US-derived slush fund” had “financed political violence” in Palau throughout this era. In August 1988, Palau’s second president Lazarus Salii was discovered lifeless in his house after failing to cross the COFA –– allegedly solely a day earlier than he was to announce his bid for reelection. Finally, with two presidents killed and two million {dollars} spent to stir violence, the Palauan structure was amended, the COFA went into impact, and the U.S. was free to position its nuclear arms on the tiny island.
The assassination of Palau’s first President, Haruo Remeliik, initially led to the profitable responsible prosecution of three males: Melwert Tmetuchl, Anghenio Sabino, and Leslie Tewid. The latter, Leslie Tewid, had simply returned from america, having lately graduated from New York College. Whereas Tewid was pursuing his undergraduate diploma, he had lived with Stuart Beck in Manhattan. Tewid’s alibi throughout his protection was that whereas he had “spent a lot of the night time at a bar about an eight-minute drive from the President’s house” the place he was assassinated, “round midnight” he and two buddies had pushed “to a water tank, the place the chums used heroin earlier than returning to the bar.” Whereas one in all his accompanying good friend’s had verified the journey to prosecutors, “the opposite died in an accident earlier than the trial.” Tewid had taken a polygraph check in the course of the trial and was “discovered misleading in regards to the assassination.”
Regardless of all of this, Beck and fellow Manhattan lawyer David Richenthal, on behalf of the ACLU, known as for an attraction and, in July 1987, an “appeals courtroom ordered acquittals for 3 younger males.” A yr and a month later, in August 1988, the aforementioned Palauan President Salii was shot and killed in his house. Regardless of police initially believing that “a gunman entered the house and killed him,” his loss of life was ultimately dominated a suicide. The identical night Salii was discovered lifeless, Vice President Thomas Remengesau Sr. was sworn in as Performing President. Remengesau Sr.’s son, Thomas Remengesau Jr., was later elected president of Palau 4 occasions –– first in 2000, and once more in 2004, earlier than two extra elections in 2012 and 2016. At the beginning of his second time period, Remengesau Jr. first appointed Beck the Ambassador and Everlasting Consultant for Palau on the UN.
Ambassador Beck and Remengesau Jr. took a diplomatic journey to Israel in June 2006, wherein Remengesau was quoted coming into Israeli President Moshe Katsav’s workplace stating: “There are two Jewish ambassadors to the United Nations, yours and ours.” An article by The Jerusalem Submit lined the journey, making observe that “the nation that the majority constantly votes with and for Israel is Palau,” with Beck reiterating that “Palau had one of the best and most constant file of any nation in voting for Israel.” The article furthered that members of Remengesau’s delegation had “been making an attempt to get Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, Nauru and different Pacific island states to hitch a pro-Israel coalition,” dubbed the “Nice Powers of the Pacific in Help of Israel.”
Palau and Ambassador Beck’s affinity for Israel because it pertains to the UN might provide additional readability on their relationship with TerraMar’s founder, Maxwell, because of her household’s ties to the state of Israel, together with her father Robert Maxwell’s and sister Isabel Maxwell’s longstanding relationship with Israeli intelligence and authorities officers, respectively.
Along with the aforementioned go to in 2013, Beck once more accompanied Ghislaine Maxwell to the UN in February 2014 at an occasion hosted by the Zampolli co-founded Sustainable Oceans Alliance, and the governments of Italy and Palau. Amir Dossal, who sat on the board on the Humpty Dumpty Institute alongside Jeffrey Epstein’s brother Mark, introduced Maxwell to the stage on behalf of TerraMar with a telling introduction:
“I’m now going to ask the one that has been the inspiration behind the Sustainable Oceans Alliance who actually has one thing known as TerraMar Venture. She controls the oceans world wide. In case you lookup the web site, you could have the choice to purchase part of the ocean by her… And due to this fact I invite my pricey good friend Ghislaine Maxwell to inform us how we are able to personal the oceans.” [emphasis added] – Amir Dossal on the UN, February 4, 2014
Whereas TerraMar hardly had the rights to really promote parcels of the ocean, her undertaking did appear to function a primordial NFT-esque buying program. This is smart given how TerraMar board member Steve Haft, who helped carry collectively the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, has an intimate relationship with ConsenSys –– an Ethereum growth firm based by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin. Haft was additionally an advising member of Amir Dossal’s World Partnerships Discussion board, and has labored alongside the UN on local weather and blockchain-related initiatives. Importantly, Dossal had based the Blockchain Fee for Sustainable Growth on the UN. Zampolli’s connections to the blockchain neighborhood are to be mentioned afterward on this article.
As for the citizenship angle, there are uncommon overlaps with SOA’s different members and citizenship by funding schemes with doubtful reputations, similar to these involving Zampolli and Dominica. This will likely warrant a re-examination of Maxwell’s statements in a 2016 deposition the place, when requested if she was “a citizen of some other land [besides the US]?”, she responded “TerraMar,” as a substitute of mentioning her British and French citizenships. In the identical deposition, Maxwell additionally confirmed that Epstein had given “some cash to TerraMar,” estimating it to be round $50,000. The pay-to-play elements of TerraMar citizenships are according to Palau’s distinctive immigration relationship to america, along with Palauan experiments with their Digital Residency Program –– a blockchain-based residency and ID system which permits cryptocurrency holders to buy residency.
Apparently, Jeffrey Beattie –– who seems to be the daddy of a former Trump speech author and present Beneath Secretary for Public Diplomacy on the State Division who grew up in Palau, Darren Jeffrey Beattie –– was an Lawyer Common of Palau who was accused of abusing his place to “solicit a U.S. visa for a private acquaintance of his” in 2009. In line with reporting from Marianas Selection, Particular Prosecutor Michael P. Copeland acquired a grievance that Beattie “did use a letter head from the AG’s Workplace to make a request to america authorities” to grant a U.S. visa to a feminine Chinese language nationwide whom Beattie famous “had been useful in a couple of of the republic’s investigations into human trafficking in Palau.” Beattie alleged that if she was “required to return to her nation, her life could be in peril.” A second allegation towards Beattie held that “he and the [Chinese] woman used his energy as AG to extort and blackmail companies in Palau,” together with “threats to shut down karaoke bars and therapeutic massage parlors if they didn’t pay her ‘safety cash’.” The habits of this Chinese language nationwide is reminiscent to that of the aforementioned Macau real-estate developer Ng Lap Seng. In the end, no fees or actions had been made towards Beattie, apparently as a result of Palau’s AG on the time didn’t wish to spend cash sending “an investigator to China to seek out witnesses.”
As for a way Beattie’s AG place pertains to TerraMar’s ocean citizenship play, a 2004 profile from Colorado School –– Beattie’s alma matter –– said that “a delegation got here to Palau claiming to be from a brand new nation known as the UK of Atlantis. They wished to satisfy with the president to debate establishing diplomatic relations. I agreed to satisfy with them, however after I checked the longitude and latitude of their nation, it was simply ocean.” Whereas straightforward to dismiss as a throw-away quip, inside the context of human trafficking, passport laundering, and the nation’s distinctive immigration compact with the U.S., Palau might simply have been used as a gateway for international nationals to cowl their very own citizenry and enter the U.S. with ease –– the primary iteration of at the moment’s cryptocurrency for “citizenry” by way of Palau’s Digital Residency Program.
After Epstein’s loss of life in 2019, Zampolli claimed to be unaware of Maxwell’s connections to the Sustainable Oceans Alliance, however that he did recall Ambassador Beck bringing her to the UN “twice to debate her oceans advocacy.” In an interview with The Day by day Beast, Zampolli elaborated:
“She got here to the United Nations twice to satisfy with me. She had a really artistic thought in regards to the oceans. She wished to create consciousness and provides free passports to the ocean. Oceans are so massive. Her thought wasn’t aligned with the constitution of the U.N… She was very energetic and educated in regards to the oceans. I learnt after the conferences the Clinton basis was funding her. She didn’t give us cash. It was not a United Nations thought. It was a digital passport. It’s like getting a bit of ice from an eskimo. It will be like getting a passport for an ice dice.”
Whereas Zampolli sought to distance himself from TerraMar and Ghislaine after she and Epstein turned notorious, interviews given elsewhere by Zampolli reveal that he labored carefully on the group, with “unbelievable, terrific colleagues” that created Sustainable Growth Aim (SDG) 14. Nonetheless, the general public faces of the very group that developed SDG 14 had been Stuart Beck and Ghislaine Maxwell herself, each of whom had been members of the Sustainable Ocean Alliance with Zampolli. Zampolli acknowledged working carefully with Beck to develop SDG 14 in a 2020 interview, however neglected Ghislaine, though he had long-running associations with figures who had been near Ghislaine and Epstein.
WATO Scandal on the UN
Zampolli’s deep involvement with SDG14 would carry him to the forefront of a significant UN scandal. Remarkably, Zampolli managed to keep away from any repercussions in any respect for his involvement, although the obtainable proof instantly contradicts his claims in regards to the case.
The scandal first broke in 2022, when a UN official then on the UN Workplace of Venture Providers (UNOPS) was revealed to have suspiciously steered $58 million of UNOPS funds to a British businessman merely after assembly him at a celebration. Who brokered the introduction between the 2 males? Paolo Zampolli.
Zampolli first launched the UNOPS officers central to the scandal, Grete Faremo of Norway and Vitaly Vanshelboim of Ukraine, to the British businessman, David Kendrick, and his daughter Daisy in 2015. On the time of the get together, Zampolli “was making introductions for Mr. Kendrick, the British businessman, who was promoting a system for constructing quick, low cost, sturdy houses within the growing world.” “May that carry me cash? Sure, in fact. That’s known as actual property,” Zampolli later informed the New York Instances about his obvious motives in making the introduction between UNOPS officers and the Kendricks. After the get together, Zampolli mentioned that “David got here to me and mentioned, ‘Paolo, these UNOPS individuals are very . They will make investments.”
A yr later, in 2016, Zampolli and UNOPS co-hosted an occasion that bore the branding of “We Are The Oceans” or WATO, Zampolli’s UN-backed “conservation group” that Zampolli as soon as described as “the NATO of the Oceans.” Photographs present Faremo and Vanshelboim –– then the highest two figures at UNOPS –– together with Zampolli, who addressed friends. Amongst them was Petra Nemcova, the super-model who began off her profession at Jean Luc Brunel’s modeling company and who appeared to be a fixture at Zampolli-hosted UN occasions. One other visitor was Daisy Kendrick. In line with images from the get together, the aim of the occasion was to formally announce UNOPS’ new “seed capital facility.”
That seed capital facility was described in a 2016 UNOPS doc as “aimed toward using a portion of UNOPS operational reserves to make focused contributions to early-stage funding initiatives in UNOPS mandated areas, with a view to leveraging high-impact transformational initiatives in nations with a United Nations discipline presence, in collaboration with like-minded donors and traders and totally according to the strategic priorities of the respective Governments and the United Nations coherence agenda.” The New York Instances claimed that the thought for this facility had been developed by Faremo previous to the 2015 assembly the place Zampolli brokered her introduction to the Kendricks, and that the aim of that assembly had been to “discover somebody to lend to.”
A yr after the joint WATO-UNOPS occasion, in 2017, UNOPS introduced a proper alliance with a WATO now led by Daisy Kendrick. The branding of Kendrick’s WATO, based in 2016, was precisely the identical as Zampolli’s WATO. Moreover, the announcement of the UNOPS-WATO partnership involving Kendrick was made at an occasion hosted by the aforementioned Sustainable Oceans Alliance (SOA), whose members had been Palau’s Stuart Beck, Ghislaine Maxwell’s TerraMar, Amir Dossal’s World Partnership Discussion board and Paolo Zampolli.
Kendrick’s WATO acquired $3 million from UNOPS as a part of this 2017 partnership, producing a tune known as “We’re the Oceans” and a online game. Much like TerraMar in some methods, the purpose of Kendrick’s WATO was to focus on youth and “create consciousness [about SDG14] by music”, leading to partnerships with singer Joss Stone and Vans Warped Tour, adopted by one other effort to “create consciousness” by a cellular recreation known as “The Massive Catch.” UNOPS’ Grete Faremo additionally carried out the tune to a largely empty UN convention corridor that very same yr.
Notably, the mission assertion of Zampolli’s WATO seems to align with precisely what Kendrick’s WATO was doing. His WATO’s web site states it exists “to leverage the artwork [sic] and unlock humanity to speed up the drive to implement the SDG’s. We’re connecting totally different artists globally and harness their collective energy for humanity to save lots of the oceans.” Shortly after the Stone partnership, for causes unknown, it seems that Kendrick started rebranding her WATO below the title Ocean Technology, maybe to distance it from Zampolli’s group.
A yr later, in 2018, the UNOPS seed capital facility –– first introduced 2 years prior at a Zampolli-hosted occasion –– started making its first loans. Over the following two years, it made three loans valued at a complete of $58.8 million for initiatives in numerous nations. Nonetheless, all the beneficiaries had been firms managed by or deeply related to David Kendrick. The initiatives, which included constructing houses and wind farms in impoverished communities, by no means occurred and it seems that Kendrick had used the funds his firms acquired to repay different loans. All the $58.8 million had been misplaced. It later emerged that the company’s second-in-command, Vitaly Vanshelboim, started receiving secret funds and costly presents from Kendrick in 2017, a yr earlier than the loans had been made and the identical yr that UNOPS determined to provide Daisy Kendrick’s WATO $3 million.
Zampolli has denied any function within the scandal past merely brokering the introduction between Faremo, Vanshelboim and the Kendricks in 2015. He claimed to have been “used” by the Kendricks when it got here to the WATO title and there was by no means any connection between the 2 WATOs. That is although the branding and objectives of Kendrick’s WATO had been the identical as his WATO group and that one other Zampolli-linked group had presided over the announcement of the partnership between UNOPS and Kendrick’s WATO.
Zampolli additionally claims to haven’t been paid a “finder’s charge” for the introduction of the Kendricks to UNOPS officers, though he claimed that his purpose in brokering the introduction was cash and that David Kendrick had excitedly informed him the introduction was because of lead to UNOPS investments in his firms. In different instances, which had been already mentioned on this article, Zampolli is understood to sue when he doesn’t get his reduce and he doesn’t spend his time making introductions for rich businessmen only for enjoyable. Thus, the denials of being paid to introduce David Kendrick to UN officers appears aimed toward avoiding scrutiny from the media solely after the scandal started to floor.
There’s additionally the truth that, a yr after Zampolli made the introduction, Zampolli’s WATO co-hosted the occasion the place UNOPS introduced its seed capital facility, which might later solely expressly profit the Kendricks and at which Daisy Kendrick was current (an occasion conveniently neglected of the New York Instances reporting that additionally printed Zampolli’s denials with out pushback). It additional seems that Zampolli’s spouse, Amanda Ungaro, might have had one thing to do with connecting the Kendricks and Zampolli in addition to motivating Daisy Kendrick to create her WATO non-profit. Kendrick has mentioned that her determination to create WATO was made in 2015, after “an internship on the United Nations in New York working for the Everlasting Mission of Grenada.” On the time, Amanda Ungaro was one of many representatives for the Everlasting Mission of Grenada on the UN. General, it appears fairly clear that Zampolli was a key a part of the Kendrick’s efforts and did far more than merely dealer their introduction to the UNOPS officers they might later corrupt.
Zampolli Goes to Washington
When Trump launched his 2016 presidential marketing campaign, Zampolli had an opportunity to realize entry to an entire new tier of energy gamers outdoors of the UN. After Trump’s defeat of Hillary Clinton (additionally a good friend of Zampolli’s), Zampolli was one of the high-profile Italians invited to the ritziest of inaugural events and balls. Zampolli even co-organized an inauguration get together for Trump with the journal Forbes, using his “diplomatic capability” to take action, per stories. The visitor of honor was Sylvester Stallone, who was beforehand engaged to one in all Zampolli’s former fashions and mannequin brokers, Angela Everheart. The topic of Half I of this sequence, Flavio Briatore, who was described by Italian media as “the Italian good friend closest to Donald Trump,” was additionally closely concerned within the inaugural festivities, telling Corriere Della Sera that “essentially the most fascinating conferences happen earlier than the beginning of the large celebrations.”
After the inauguration, Zampolli spent a number of New 12 months’s Eves with the president and his spouse whereas additionally continuously visiting the White Home and Mar-a-Lago. Throughout this time, Zampolli started re-branding as a “counter-terror” skilled and an skilled in Synthetic Intelligence, creating a corporation known as World Synthetic Intelligence Group (WAIO). In line with its web site, WAIO is devoted to “ensur[ing] that AI is deployed for SDGs implementation.” His forays into “counter-terror” and protection tech might have been aided by the U.S. authorities. In 2019, Zampolli informed Serbian media outlet Telegraf that “I met briefly [Serbian Interior] Minister Stefanovic when he came around the CIA, the FBI, and the New York Police Division for counter-terrorism, and I promised him that I might come and go to Serbia to have an official assembly on these matters.” Zampolli’s assertion suggests that somebody at a type of organizations despatched the Serbian authorities minister to Zampolli to debate counter-terrorism and protection tech. This is able to foreshadow Zampolli’s later focus when appointed Particular Envoy for World Partnerships below the second Trump administration.
In October 2020, Zampolli determined to maneuver from New York Metropolis to D.C. to ostensibly be nearer to his former boss. Nonetheless, Zampolli blended in poorly with D.C. elites, who discovered his tastes “garish” and the friends he would entertain “questionable.” Politico famous that these “questionable” figures had been “lobbyists for disreputable industries and diplomats for nations with lackluster human rights data.” It was additionally reported that his paintings was deemed offensive, together with: “{a photograph} of Tony Blair scribbling on the Chilcot Report, a portray of Barack Obama smoking, {a photograph} of George W. Bush scuffling with a Rubik’s Dice and a number of large photos of Trump.”
The next yr, in 2021, Zampolli noticed himself appointed to the President’s Council on Sports activities, Health & Vitamin in addition to to the board of trustees of the Kennedy Heart. That very same yr, he additionally hosted a “We’re the Oceans” occasion on the Kennedy Heart, which was attended by diplomats in addition to Brock Pierce, the co-founder of Tether, Jeffrey Epstein’s former cryptocurrency guru and affiliate of the DEN pedophile community. Pierce and Zampolli met previous to the occasion and have been carefully related ever since.
Pierce initially discovered fame as a Disney youngster star earlier than he joined Marc Collins-Rector and Chad Shackley in co-founding the Digital Leisure Community, or DEN. The main focus of a earlier investigation by Limitless Hangout, The Chain of Issuance, Pierce left the failed DEN to kind his personal firm, the Web Gaming Leisure (IGE), which kick-started the digital items economic system, ultimately culminating within the founding of the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, Tether. DEN, an early pioneer in digital video streaming which acted as a entrance for an in depth pedophilia ring in southern California, failed famously after Collins-Rector was “indicted for transporting minors throughout state strains for intercourse,” forcing the founders to flee to Spain. In Could 2002, Interpol arrested Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce after “discovering weapons and hundreds of child-porn photos of their home,” with Spanish regulation enforcement furthering that “huge quantities of kid porn” had been present in the home and that “the FBI has been investigating the trio since late 1999.” It was throughout this time in Spain, earlier than the arrest, that Pierce based IGE.
“I began an organization known as IGE and so I constructed a provide chain of 400,000 individuals in China that had been taking part in video video games professionally to mine digital foreign money in video games like World of Warcraft and so I used to be the primary market maker for all the digital worlds globally, rolled up Korea and a lot of the main territories, and in that course of I raised a bunch of cash from Goldman Sachs. My proper hand was a man by the title of Steve Bannon who then turned CEO.” – Brock Pierce at BlockShow Asia 2017
Pierce was ultimately pressured out as CEO of IGE by Steve Bannon, who has appreciable ties to each Epstein and Trump. Bannon filmed Epstein for an estimated 15 hours for a supposed documentary movie that has by no means materialized and is claimed to have coached Epstein on how to reply to his reputational and authorized woes. Bannon considered Epstein as an intelligence asset as he was “intrigued by Epstein’s function as intermediary for intelligence companies in america and overseas.” Bannon was a key determine in Trump’s rise to the presidency, and held the place of Chief Strategist throughout the primary 7 months of his first administration.
Pierce is most well-known at the moment for founding Tether, however he was additionally instrumental within the success of Blockchain Capital, Block.one’s EOS, Roundtable Media –– the media firm related to BTC Inc and the Bitcoin Convention –– along with his prudent roles as a United Nations OIJ Senior Advisor and a member of the Clinton World Initiative. In 2011, Pierce appeared at Al Seckel’s and Epstein’s Mindshift Convention held on Epstein’s Little St. James Island, with a consultant of Pierce claiming that “the few communications that Mr. Pierce had with Epstein associated to cryptocurrency.” Pierce had beforehand ran a gaming agency for Clearstone Ventures, a spin off of Idealab Capital Companions –– the primary institutional investor in PayPal –– which was managed by Invoice Elkus. Within the Nineteen Nineties, Elkus was listed as a trustee of the J. Epstein Basis alongside Jeffrey Epstein’s brother Mark, and was additionally enterprise supervisor to the Epstein-affiliated Deepak Chopra.
In April 2021, Zampolli threw a celebration for Pierce at his mansion in Washington, D.C. wherein Pierce infamously taught the party-goers how NFTs work by setting fireplace to an costly portray hanging on Zampolli’s wall. In line with reporting from Web page Six, a visitor described Pierce speaking about lately buying an NFT made by The Rolling Stone’s front-man Mick Jagger. The visitor said that “Paolo [had] mentioned he was an old style artwork collector and nonetheless didn’t perceive the idea of NFT’s,” main Pierce to say, “Let me present you ways its carried out.” Pierce scanned the partitions of Zampolli’s mansion earlier than touchdown on a portray made by Domingo Zapata, a good friend of Zampolli, whom agreed to permit the pair of buddies to destroy his portray to create an NFT. Zampollo and Pierce positioned the portray in a champagne bucket and set it on fireplace. Pierce took the video of the pyrotechnics and turned it into an NFT in an effort to public sale it off on the aforementioned June 2021 fundraiser for “We’re the Oceans” held on the Kennedy Heart, the place Zampolli is a board member. Zampolli and Pierce would proceed to work on cryptocurrency occasions and initiatives regarding Trump’s presidency, as described additional beneath.
A month later in July 2021, Zampolli forwarded a sequence of textual content messages to “a dozen lobbyists, enterprise house owners and different energy gamers in D.C” that included “screengrabs of exchanges between himself and a girl, wherein he described his sexual encounters together with her in graphic element.” Zampolli described the girl as a “working lady,” i.e. prostitute. Nonetheless, Zampolli later mentioned that he didn’t pay her for intercourse and several other sources claimed that the girl was not, in truth, a prostitute. “Please avoid my household, you’re a professional, all [sic] metropolis is aware of you’re a working lady, since day one you mentioned I needed to pay you,” Zampolli had written in one of many messages. The girl later said that the connection had been consensual, however that Zampolli had “dishonest in regards to the nature of his relationship with the mom of his son and now not wished to be concerned or related to him.” She claims that Zampolli threatened her after which proceeded to slander her within the texts he forwarded round D.C. Zampolli described the state of affairs very in another way, stating that he felt “blackmailed” and that the girl “wished to harm my household.” Shortly after sending the messages round city, Zampolli moved again to New York.
Zampolli’s New Function
Nonetheless, Zampolli would once more make a political comeback with Trump’s return to the White Home after successful the 2024 presidential election. He once more participated in a number of outstanding inaugural occasions (mentioned later) and apparently reuniting with one other shut good friend of Trump, Flavio Briatore. Quickly after returning to the White Home, Trump appointed Zampolli to be U.S. particular envoy to Italy in February. “The opposite day, the president, in entrance of ten individuals, instantly pointed at me and requested me to be a particular envoy,” Zampolli informed the Italian newspaper Il Gironale. He later added that Trump “is at all times very busy and fast. He says a couple of phrases and solves issues.”
As soon as in that function, Zampolli started assembly with prime politicians in Italy like Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her deputy Prime Minster Matteo Salvini. Salvini and Meloni are long-time political associates of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian billionaire and former Prime Minister who was caught up within the “bunga bunga get together” scandal involving teen ladies. As famous earlier, Berlusconi, the P2 lodge member with alleged mafia hyperlinks, had long-standing ties to Zampolli starting with Zampolli promoting his household toy firm to Berlusconi to finance his entry into the world of mannequin administration. Meloni had beforehand served below Berlusconi as his Minister for Youth Insurance policies from 2008 to 2011.
In his conferences with Italy, Zampolli and prime Italian officers like Salvini publicly claimed in English to deal with “reinforc[ing] the financial and industrial ties between the 2 nations.” Nonetheless, In an interview on Italian TV, Zampolli made it clear his essential focus was on “protection business ties between Italy and america.” One among his proposed insurance policies, pitched to prime Italian officers with out Trump’s approval on the time, was to have the U.S. enter the World Fight Air Programme (GCAP), whose present members are the UK, Italy and Japan. The essential contractors for that program are at present BAE Techniques (UK), Leonardo (Italy) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan).
Zampolli was one of many earliest figures within the new administration to push Italy’s Meloni to advocate 5% of Italian GDP to protection spending. The push got here earlier than the NATO-wide settlement to have member nations contribute 5% to protection spending, to which Meloni – amongst others – agreed. That settlement got here after a push from Trump and a few of his prime officers. Zampolli additionally known as for Italian firm Leonardo (a part of the GCAP) to turn out to be “a European chief in provides for the American Iron Dome,” i.e. the Golden Dome, stating that such techniques are obligatory “to counter the danger of assaults with far more superior launchers than these launched by Iran towards the Jewish State.”
By this level, nonetheless, Zampolli was now not simply particular envoy to Italy. On March 11, he was promoted to the put up of Particular Envoy for World Partnerships. Since then, he’s been an vital but quiet fixture at main occasions, like the GCC-USA Summit in Saudi Arabia, which was attended by prime Trump officers in addition to main figures from Wall Avenue and Silicon Valley. That summit resulted in a significant, $600 billion funding dedication. As famous beforehand, Zampolli has lengthy boasted of his ties to members of the Saudi royal household. Moreover, different GCC nation ruling households have ties to Zampolli, similar to these of Qatar, as Zampolli has represented them in New York actual property offers previously. Oddly, American media averted naming Zampolli in any respect as being a part of Trump’s entourage, regardless of him supposedly being a member of Trump’s “internal circle.” Nonetheless, photos from the discussion board present Zampolli within the entrance row of the summit with prime U.S. officers and Gulf officers and different media stories from outdoors of the U.S. described Zampolli as being “on the forefront” of the discussion board.
In an interview with Corriere Della Sella, Zampolli claimed that the GCC nations had turn out to be “the primary interlocutors of america” and that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also referred to as MbS, was a “true good friend” and “function mannequin” because of his “dedication to rework Saudi Arabia based mostly on the 2030 agenda,” i.e. the sustainable growth objectives that Zampolli helped affect. Zampolli additionally said that he had met MbS when he was 24 years outdated, lengthy earlier than he was Crown Prince, “on the house of his cousin Nawaf bin Sultan al Saud, my outdated good friend, who lived in one of many Trump Towers in New York.” MbS, after coming to energy in 2017, developed shut ties to different figures in Trump’s circle, similar to Jared Kushner, in addition to former shut buddies of Trump’s, like Jeffrey Epstein.
Because the summit, Zampolli has quietly continued to satisfy, each formally and unofficially, with different prime officers from a number of different governments such because the Prime Minster of Montenegro, the President of the Dominican Republic, and Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the UK, in addition to the UN-Secretary Common Antonio Guterres, and former heads of NATO.
Along with behind-the-scenes enterprise offers and efforts to gin up international funding within the U.S., Zampolli can also be aiding Trump by “reshaping the John F. Kennedy Heart for the Performing Arts,” higher referred to as the Kennedy Heart. Zampolli has served on the board since Trump’s first time period however was one of many few to stay throughout Trump’s second time period, when the president fired all Biden appointees of the “traditionally bipartisan” establishment. Zampolli has pitched to open Kennedy Heart franchises in Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia, to “launch artwork into house with the assistance of Elon Musk” and to “open a marina on the Potomac and a Cipriani restaurant.”
Moreover, plainly a few of Trump’s most controversial international coverage concepts might have first originated along with his long-time good friend. In 2016, Zampolli had informed journalist Mattia Ferraresi of his thought of changing Gaza “right into a “Mediterrean Riviera” with high-rises and buying malls.” “Let’s make it like Dubai, however with no golden taps,” Zampolli was quoted as saying. Extra lately, in February, Trump (and earlier than him his son-in-law Jared Kushner) promoted the very controversial coverage of forcibly relocating the two.3 million Palestinians within the war-torn Gaza strip to different states, demolishing buildings within the strip that haven’t already been destroyed by the Israeli navy and constructing a US-backed “Riviera” of their place. When Ferraresi contacted Zampolli after Trump’s “Riviera” plan, he mentioned “You see, possibly I’m no utterly dumb in any case” and was “clearly delighted in regards to the Mar-a-Gaza undertaking,” per Ferraresi. Zampolli denied, nonetheless, being instantly concerned within the new coverage. But, given Zampolli’s historical past of distancing himself from issues solely after they turn out to be extremely controversial (such because the UN-WATO incident talked about earlier on this piece), it’s troublesome to take his denial at face worth.
Whereas Zampolli’s official function within the authorities is targeted on international coverage and international funding, he additionally seems to have performed some form of function within the administration’s effort to courtroom the crypto neighborhood. These efforts, unsurprisingly, have all occurred alongside Zampolli’s affiliate of a number of years, Brock Pierce. For example, Zampolli, Pierce and Pierce’s DNA Holdings had been the hosts of the inaugural “Blockchain Ball” occasion on the Kennedy Heart. The ball was sponsored by Charles Hoskinson’s IOHK (Hoskinson is a co-founder of each Ethereum and Cardano) and the Close to Basis, which is chaired by Diogo Mónica. Mónica additionally co-founded Anchorage Digital, the one crypto financial institution to be chartered by the OCC, which occurred throughout Trump’s first administration. Because the latest passage of crypto regulation, others have utilized for charters, however Anchorage was capable of entrench itself because of its early regulatory benefit.
As well as, each Zampolli and Pierce had been concurrently concerned with the $PATRIOT token undertaking, an obvious crypto grift. That token was the brainchild of Dustin Stockton, now known as the “godfather of political finance” for his function in popularizing political meme cash. Stockton was beforehand the “lead organizer” for January sixth who, regardless of his main function, determined to not present as much as the Capitol that day and was not charged in relation to the occasion. As an alternative, he subsequently denounced Trump and the “riot,” promising to “title names.” Stockton additionally helped the create the ill-fated “We Construct the Wall” non-profit, which later led to felony fees with others intimately concerned within the undertaking, together with Steve Bannon who has been carefully affiliated with Stockton for years. Once more, Stockton was not charged (his RV, nonetheless, was raided by regulation enforcement). Bannon is probably going how Stockton first met Brock Pierce, as the 2 are former enterprise companions. Bannon and Pierce additionally share mutual ties to Jeffrey Epstein, whose ties to Pierce specifically had been constructed round his curiosity in cryptocurrency.
The ostensible purpose of the $PATRIOT token was to construct a two-story-high monument to Donald Trump’s now iconic response after the Butler, PA assassination try. That statue was because of be paraded across the nation earlier than being put in in Miami on the Trump Doral. Regardless of being accomplished in January, the token’s web site claims it has but to be “unveiled,” regardless of being accomplished a number of months in the past. Nonetheless, Stockton has since claimed that the group paid a 6-figure sum as a part of “a purchase order settlement for the Mental property that governs the merchandising and replica of the $PATRIOT Statue.” The web site claims it labored by “liaisons to the President” as a part of the undertaking, with a type of liaisons being Paolo Zampolli, who posted photos of him presenting Trump with a duplicate of the $PATRIOT statue. One other is the pastor Mark Burns who, in a latest clip posted to the token’s Twitter web page on August eighth, talked about Brock Pierce’s early and persevering with presence within the undertaking. he additionally talked about the involvement of Yaakov Flitchkin, a “accomplice” of Brock Pierce whose group, the Alliance for World Cooperation, has carefully linked itself to the United Nations and acts as a de facto UN lobbying group for the Chabad Lubavitch motion. Burns, Pierce and Flitchkin sat collectively in the course of the inauguration and attended different inaugural occasions collectively apart from the $PATRIOT token’s award ceremony. On the inauguration, the trio had been joined by Mayor of New York Eric Adams, who beforehand courted controversy for using on Pierce’s personal jet.
In January, throughout inauguration festivities, Stockton hosted the Patriot Awards that had been instantly affiliated with the token undertaking. Stockton credited Brock Pierce for a lot of the undertaking, claiming that Pierce “helped put all of this collectively” and has “carried out a lot behind the scenes that I couldn’t even start to explain.” The $PATRIOT token Twitter web page additionally credited Paolo Zampolli as having been a “large assist” in placing collectively the occasion, which was hosted on the Nationwide Press Membership. Awardees included Pierce, who gave a shout-out to Zampolli in his speech, in addition to Steve Bannon and a prime journalist at Breitbart, which Bannon as soon as ran and which additionally beforehand employed Stockton.
Stockton promoted the token as being “America’s token” and its success as being “inevitable.” He continued to take action as its worth tanked, promising those that had bought the tokens that it might quickly be “making strikes” in a number of tweets. On the peak of its recognition in January, the token had a market cap of $77.7 million that has since collapsed to $3.4 million.
$PATRIOT was simply one in all a number of political meme cash that Stockton was concerned with that focused Trump’s base throughout and proper after the election. For example, Stockton additionally created the $MAHA token that Stockton promoted as being associated to the Make America Wholesome Once more (MAHA) motion. Stockton promoted the $MAHA token all through 2024 and implied that the upcoming “domination” of “prime influencers” in MAHA would pump the token’s worth. Not lengthy after, Stockton started co-hosting a Membership MAHA podcast with Kyle Kemper, Justin Trudeau’s half-brother, and social media persona turned streamer Ian Carroll. (Word: Carroll doesn’t seem to have ever been affiliated with the token, however Stockton seems to have used the entry to a bigger MAHA viewers to advertise this failed token).
Consigliere Zampolli
Paolo Zampolli’s appointment to a brand new authorities place seemingly made only for him must be the topic of elevated scrutiny, not simply because of Zampolli’s affiliations to the broader community of Epstein, Brunel and Maxwell, but in addition as a result of a long time of covert and corrupt wheeling-and-dealing that has marked his profession in actual property, in “diplomacy” and now in U.S. international and commerce coverage. It’s actually outstanding that, regardless of all that this investigation has documented, Zampolli has by no means been investigated or charged for felony exercise. He seems oddly shielded from scrutiny.
That is true additionally for the press, particularly contemplating so many shops would presumably bounce on the probability to un-earth the deep corruption of the person that Trump and Melania say launched them, particularly when confronted with the assertion that it had been Jeffrey Epstein.
Paolo Zampolli is really an envoy for one factor — brazen corruption within the world energy construction. The truth that he could be given a particular function involving international commerce and partnerships within the present administration by Trump is mind-boggling — not less than when you take Trump’s political rhetoric at face worth. That is very true contemplating that, amongst different issues, Zampolli was given this function after servicing corrupt, predatory and globalist ambitions concentrating on the world’s oceans, facilitating fraud, and aiding citizenship-by-investment scams utilized by corrupt Chinese language, Iranian and others to, as Zampolli himself mentioned, circumvent U.S. sanctions. It’s also a testomony to the safety and cronyism loved by a few of the “First Buddies” that take pleasure in not solely shut ties to the present U.S. president, however the broader Epstein/Maxwell community.
As we are going to see within the last, and arguably most damning, installment of this sequence, one other determine near Trump that has additionally turn out to be quietly but intimately intertwined with New York mayoral politics seems to equally take pleasure in safety from authorized scrutiny on the subject of his intensive dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.
