Andrew and Tristan Tate, the influencer brothers facing rape and sex-trafficking charges in the UK and Romania, spent the past several days in Washington as guests of Donald Trump’s special envoy Paolo Zampolli.
Zampolli, a former modeling agency boss who introduced the President to Melania, confirmed to the Daily Mail that he hosted the Tate brothers at a house in Northwest Washington, DC, on Wednesday for a summer soirée attended by around 150 guests.
Asked whether the event was connected to his State Department role, the 56-year-old shot back: ‘Why would I do that? This was a summer gathering.’
Zampolli said he wasn’t sure of the purpose of the Tates’ visit to the capital, telling the Daily Mail: ‘They’re having some business meetings.’
He also accompanied the infamous brothers on Tuesday to the Ned, the exclusive private members’ club near the White House which is a regular haunt for cabinet secretaries. Members at the Ned were shocked by the brothers’ appearance and complained to management, multiple sources told the Daily Mail.
‘They were mostly smoking cigars outside the club,’ a source said, and the pair left at around 11pm and went out for a drink afterward. ‘People in the administration were scared to be seen with Tate,’ he added.
The Tate brothers deny all allegations against them and are yet to face trial.
Zampolli was named special envoy for global partnerships in March 2025, a role that operates through the State Department.
‘Paolo routinely comes into conflict with State Department leadership, who are embarrassed by him,’ a State Department source told the Daily Mail.
Now Zampolli has attached himself to two of the most polarizing figures in the Trump-aligned media world, introducing the Tates to Washington’s political elite.
A photo obtained by the Daily Mail shows the Andrew (right) and Tristan Tate posing with Texas Representative Wesley Hunt in his congressional office
The influencer brothers, who are facing rape and sex-trafficking charges in the UK and Romania, spent the past several days in Washington as guests of Donald Trump’s special envoy, Paolo Zampolli. Above, Andrew in a YouTube video
Zampolli had contacted a senior ICE official last June after learning that Amanda Ungaro, his ex-wife and the mother of his teenage son, had been arrested on fraud charges in Florida
The infamous Tate brothers went to the Ned, the exclusive private members’ club near the White House, which is a regular haunt for cabinet secretaries, on Tuesday
The Tate brothers also made their way to Capitol Hill to rub elbows with Republican lawmakers.
A photo obtained by the Daily Mail shows the pair posing with Texas Representative Wesley Hunt in his congressional office.
The meeting came together after Tristan Tate reached out to Hunt through the congressman’s social media aide.
‘Wesley was beyond excited to meet with them,’ said a source in Hunt’s office familiar with the meeting.
Once inside, the brothers bragged about their time in a Romanian prison, including doing 100 push-ups every day, according to the source.
Hunt, a Houston congressman and Army veteran who took office in 2023 and brands himself one of Trump’s earliest and most loyal backers in Congress, finished a distant third in this year’s Republican Senate primary in Texas.
The Daily Mail contacted Hunt for comment.
The brothers arrived in the capital carrying heavy baggage. Andrew and Tristan were arrested in Romania in December 2022 and charged in June 2023 with human trafficking and forming an organized crime group to sexually exploit women. Andrew was additionally charged with rape.
Zampolli’s modeling agency sponsored Melania Trump’s US visa when she moved from her native Slovenia
Zampolli is a longtime friend of Melania. He introduced her to Donald Trump in the 1990s
Andrew and Tristan were arrested in Romania in December 2022 and charged in June 2023 with rape, human trafficking and forming an organized crime group to sexually exploit women
Romanian prosecutors in August 2024 expanded the case against them to include money laundering, witness intimidation and complicity in the trafficking of minors.
British prosecutors filed 21 charges of their own against the brothers in May 2025, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking.
Romanian courts have ruled the pair will be extradited to the United Kingdom once proceedings in Romania conclude.
The brothers have denied all charges and allegations against them.
The Tates flew from Romania to Florida in February 2025 after authorities lifted their travel ban, a reversal that followed reported pressure from Trump administration figures. Trump told reporters he knew ‘nothing about it.’
ProPublica later reported that a White House official intervened to have federal agents return electronic devices seized from the brothers when they landed in Florida.
This week’s gathering was not Zampolli’s first encounter with the brothers: he and Andrew were seen together on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Global Conference in May, and the two recently recorded a lengthy interview together.
It is unclear whether further meetings or parties for the brothers in Washington are planned later this week.
Members at the Ned were shocked by the brothers’ appearance and complained to management, multiple sources told the Daily Mail
Zampolli’s decades in New York’s fashion and society worlds also placed him squarely in the orbit of Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender, and Ghislaine Maxwell
Zampolli’s place in Trump’s world was cemented in September 1998, after he says he introduced the future president to Melania Knauss at a New York party, two years after his modeling agency, ID Model Management, sponsored her US visa.
Zampolli’s decades in New York’s fashion and society worlds also placed him squarely in the orbit of Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein was a patron of ID Model Management, and in 2004 he was a partner in Zampolli’s unsuccessful bid to purchase Elite Model Management.
In one 2011 email from the Epstein files released by the DOJ, the pedophile financier warned an Emirati businessman that ‘zampoli is trouble,’ misspelling his name.
In 2013, Zampolli was named as one of four partners in the TerraMar Project, the ocean charity founded by Epstein’s convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
No evidence has publicly connected Zampolli to Epstein’s crimes, and he has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell.
In March, The New York Times reported that Zampolli had contacted a senior ICE official last June after learning that Amanda Ungaro, his ex-wife and the mother of his teenage son, had been arrested on fraud charges in Florida.
Zampolli allegedly suggested that her immigration detention could help him win their custody battle.
Ungaro, whose visa had expired years earlier, was picked up by ICE agents before she could post bail and was ultimately deported to Brazil, though the Times noted she may have faced removal regardless of his involvement.
Zampolli denied seeking her detention or deportation, saying he had only asked about the process, and the Department of Homeland Security said she was removed because of her expired visa and the fraud charges.
Trump appointed Zampolli to the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees in 2020, and in his envoy role he has crisscrossed the globe promoting sports diplomacy and brokering deals, including mineral and aircraft agreements with Uzbekistan.
The envoy position has never been publicly defined, and no financial disclosure for Zampolli has been made publicly available.
Joseph D McBride, attorney for Andrew and Tristan Tate, told the Daily Mail: ‘I am not going to confirm or deny anything. What I will say is this: Washington knows that Andrew and Tristan Tate’s ability to influence the next election is unmatched.
‘Republicans and Democrats love them. Both parties are inviting them to all kinds of interesting events because both parties understand the same thing: the Tate brothers command the loyalty of millions of young men and a growing number of women. All of them vote.’
The State Department has been contacted for comment.
