A longtime associate of President Donald Trump has been accused in a civil lawsuit of drugging and raping a woman. Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent who serves as Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships, is accused by 33-year-old model and tech entrenepreneur Victoria Drake of sexually assaulting her at his Manhattan townhouse in October 2023. Zampolli denies the allegations, telling Substack PunchUp they are part of an effort to extort or damage him.
Newsweek contacted attorneys for Zampolli and Drake via email. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 3.
The 56-year-old Italian-born businessman said Drake's suit should be handed alongside a criminal complaint he filed against Drake in Rome in April, which alleges Drake tried to extort him. Zampolli has said he introduced future President Donald Trump to future first lady Melania Trump at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998. Drake's complaint said Zampolli approached her shortly after she arrived at Manhattan private members’ club Zero Bond on October 5.
They “recounted recognizing each other from Mar-a-Lago and their shared admiration for President Trump,” it said. Zampolli invited Drake and a friend to his townhouse for a “nightcap” later that evening, which she attended with a friend and left “without issue” about 2:30 a.m., the complaint said. Zampolli invited her to his home again the following morning and sent her a message saying “I want to get to know you,” the suit said.
About 1:45 a.m. on October 7, Zampolli called Drake and invited her to his townhouse for a “get together” with graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, the complaint said. Drake thought it would be a “good networking opportunity” and she arrived at his home approximatey 3 a.m., the complaint said. On arrival, Zampolli offered her a drink and she “lost consciousness,” with her last memory sitting on the couch in the living room and observing Zampolli “consume copious amounts of cocaine," the lawsuit alleged.
The complaint alleges that in her brief moments of consciousness, she recalled “laying on her back in a bed, in dimly lit lighting, fully naked, with Defendant ZAMPOLLI laying on top of her and sweating profusely onto her body, while gripping her neck with both hands and vaginally penetrating her with his penis.” Drake alleges she “did not, and could not consent to any sexual contact” with Zampolli. The complaint says Drake filed a report with the New York Police Department the following day. She also underwent a drug-facilitated sexual assault examination and a sexual assault forensic examination at a New York hospital that same day.
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