As we continue digging into Jeffrey Epstein’s network, we repeatedly stumble onto connections linking him, his associates, and victims to Brazil.
We know that the mother of Paolo Zampolli’s child, Amanda Ungaro, was trafficked from Brazil as a teenager by Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Jean-Luc Brunel.
(If you are unfamiliar with Amanda Ungaro’s story and how she fell victim to Jeffrey Epstein’s network and was abused by Donald Trump’s close friend [who is in our current administration], Paolo Zampolli — click this link to get caught up.)
Outside of Amanda Ungaro, Jean-Luc Brunel also trafficked Gláucia Fekete out of Brazil, who came out and shared her story with the BBC in March 2026.
In April 2026, Paolo Zampolli sat down with (the amazing and brilliant) Sacha Biazzo from RAI’s REPORT and accidentally revealed why he believed Brazil was a hub for Jeffrey Epstein’s recruiters.
In this interview, he expressed that Brazilian women were genetically inferior and programmed to extort money from men.
Other words Paolo Zampolli used to describe Brazilian women were “whores” and “troublemakers”. He also implied that Brazilian women lacked intelligence and common sense.
This tells me that Jeffrey Epstein’s recruiters and co-conspirators viewed Brazilian girls as easy to manipulate, and if they were to say something terrible happened to them, it would be immediately considered an extortion attempt.
Little did they know the Brazilian teen they trafficked in the early 2000s (Amanda Ungaro) would be the one coming back to bite all of them.
Throughout our research into Jeffrey Epstein and his network’s ties to Brazil, the same woman’s name continues to appear.
Her name is Ana Maria Gomes Macedo.
Ana Maria Gomes Macedo, (who is 48-49 years old in present day), is a model who was signed to John Casablancas’ Elite Models. As we know, John Casablancas was the owner of Elite Models until its bankruptcy in the early 2000s.
Ana Maria Gomes Macedo signed with Elite Models in 2002, after John Casablancas had began selling off shares and distancing himself from the company. It’s hard to say if the two physically crossed paths.
Ana Maria Gomes Macedo is also a business owner who is described by Brazilian reporting as a fashion entrepreneur… but her connection to Jeffrey Epstein is severely underreported.
She was in active communication with Jeffrey Epstein for years, even after his first arrest, and their connection appears to have gone considerably further than email communications.
Jeffrey Epstein Owned an Apartment in São Paulo
One of the more surprising details to emerge from reporting on Jeffrey Epstein’s Brazilian connections is that he actually owned property in São Paulo.
According to Brazilian property records, Jeffrey Epstein purchased a roughly 93-square-meter apartment in the affluent Vila Olímpia area of São Paulo on May 5, 2003.
He reportedly paid approximately R$245,000 for the property.
Just over two years later, on August 1, 2005, Jeffrey Epstein sold the apartment to Ana Maria Gomes Macedo (who was 28 years old at the time) for R$179,300.
That means Jeffrey Epstein sold Ana Maria Macedo the apartment for nearly 30% less than what he had paid for it only two years earlier.
The transaction immediately raises an obvious question: Who exactly was Ana Maria Macedo to Jeffrey Epstein?
Emails released from the DOJ’s Epstein Files show Ana Maria Macedo communicating personally with Jeffrey Epstein beginning before she purchased the apartment from him.
In October of 2002, Jeffrey Epstein purchased Ana Maria Macedo a plane ticket — according to the DOJ’s Epstein Files:
The Epstein Files show that in June of 2003, Ana Maria Macedo received a FedEx package from Jeffrey Epstein — around two years before he sold her the São Paulo apartment.
On June 25, 2003 — shortly after receiving this package, Ana Maria Macedo received a payment of $803.75 (USD) from Jeffrey Epstein.
In one 2006 exchange, Jeffrey Epstein told Ana Maria Macedo that he was in Paris and asked whether she had “any friends here?”
Given what we know about Jeffrey Epstein’s international network and his repeated reliance on friends and associates to facilitate introductions, the question immediately raises my suspicions about whom Jeffrey Epstein was asking Ana Maria Macedo to introduce him to.
This makes Ana Maria Macedo appearing in legal filings alongside associates of Jeffrey Epstein even more compelling. Furthermore, according to Jeffrey Epstein’s Black Book — Ana Maria Macedo stayed at Jeffrey and Mark Epstein’s “model apartment” located at 301 E. 66th Street, New York City.
This is the location where Jeffrey Epstein would primarily house his staff, assistants, and victims. Co-conspirators such as Jean-Luc Brunel and Paolo Zampolli also had models signed under their agencies (ID Models/Karin Models/MC2 Models) who were housed in this apartment complex.
In the same 2006 email thread, Jeffrey Epstein wrote Ana Maria Macedo: “i called lapo and left a message,, have ingrid see me tomorrow”
While I’m unsure who Ingrid is (seemingly a woman Ana Maria Macedo knew whom Epstein wanted to see), one name immediately jumps out to me as familiar — Lapo.
This is very likely referring to a relative of Paolo Zampolli — Lapo Elkann, a known associate of Jeffrey Epstein’s network. Both Paolo Zampolli and the Elkann family fall under the Agnelli family tree, as we have discussed in the past.
Lapo Elkann is the controversial Italian businessman and heir to the Agnelli family fortune. His brother, John Elkann, is the current head of the Agnelli family’s business affairs and was in the Oval Office with Donald Trump just a few months ago.
The emails also suggest Jeffrey Epstein continued traveling to Brazil even after selling the apartment to Ana Maria Macedo.
In my opinion, the circumstances raise the possibility that this was more than a simple property sale — potentially a way to remove Jeffrey Epstein’s name from the apartment while maintaining some connection to it amid his legal issues.
In February 2008, Ana Maria Macedo sent Jeffrey Epstein an enthusiastic message:
She also stated that a woman named Alana was with her and also wanted to say hello to Jeffrey Epstein — this is a second unidentified female Jeffrey Epstein is associated with via his connection to Ana Maria Macedo.
(“Alana” may be Alana Takahashi, whose name appeared alongside Ana Maria Macedo in the USVI v. JPMorgan case.)
Another email exchange shows Jeffrey Epstein telling Ana Maria Macedo:
“i’m waiting for photo.”
Ana Maria Gomes Macedo’s Fashion Business
Outside of modeling, Ana Maria Gomes Macedo appears to have been actively involved in the fashion industry.
By June 2008, an automatic email response associated with her correspondence told senders that she had changed email addresses, and directed them to an address incorporating the name “amdresses”.
Later correspondence makes clear that she was operating a business selling clothing — a venture she would later ask Jeffrey Epstein to financially support.
By 2010, Jeffrey Epstein was no longer simply the wealthy financier he had presented himself as during the earlier years of their relationship. His crimes were public knowledge, he had served time in jail, and he was on the sex offender registry.
This did not stop Ana Maria Gomes Macedo’s relationship with him from continuing.
On July 1, 2010, she sent Jeffrey Epstein an affectionate email celebrating his return from jail… (despite the fact that Jeffrey Epstein had been permitted to leave jail during the day under his controversial work-release arrangement.)
She told him that she would never forget everything he had done for her and expressed her love for him as a friend.
Whether her statement referred to the apartment, other financial assistance, personal help, professional connections, or something entirely different remains unclear.
On November 23, 2011, Ana Maria Macedo contacted Jeffrey Epstein asking for help with her clothing business. She asked Jeffrey Epstein if he could “purchase some dresses for the girls” because she needed money to invest in a new showroom.
Her reference to “the girls” immediately caught my attention.
Who exactly were “the girls”, and why did Ana Maria Macedo assume Jeffrey Epstein might be interested in purchasing clothing for them?
It’s very interesting to me that six years after Jeffrey Epstein sold Ana Maria Macedo his São Paulo apartment, she apparently still felt comfortable approaching him for financial assistance.
This wasn’t a relationship that ended with the property transaction.
In my opinion, this seemed more like a property transfer to remove Jeffrey Epstein’s identity from an apartment that he likely still have access to.
To be clear, Ana Maria Macedo still owns this property today.
The Prince Edward Connection
Ana Maria Macedo’s social world is apparently remarkably international.
Recent Brazilian reporting says Ana Maria Macedo attended a dinner in November 2024 alongside Prince Edward, the younger brother of (the former Prince) Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
A photograph published with the reporting shows Ana Maria Macedo alongside Prince Edward and Tchizé dos Santos, daughter of former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos.
Tchizé dos Santos introduces another interesting network overlap: her sister is billionaire Isabel dos Santos, whose name also appears in the DOJ’s Epstein Files.
Email correspondence has shown Jeffrey Epstein discussing efforts involving Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista and Isabel dos Santos, including potential meetings in London or Paris.
Brazil Is Becoming an Important Piece of the Epstein Story
I find Jeffrey Epstein’s correspondence with Ana Maria Macedo to be particularly interesting as Brazilian authorities have recently begun examining Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to the country.
In February 2026, Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) opened a proceeding examining information concerning Brazilian women/girls and Jeffrey Epstein’s network following the slow-burning release of the Epstein Files.
That means understanding Jeffrey Epstein’s actual infrastructure in Brazil is increasingly important, as survivors have an opportunity for justice amid Brazil’s Epstein investigations.
I asked Amanda Ungaro if she or Paolo Zampolli ever met Ana Maria Macedo.
Here is what she told me:
This connection is unsurprising, as many photos on Ana Maria Macedo’s social media show her partying at the controversial New York City nightclub The Box — a favorite of Jeffrey Epstein and his friends.
If you have not read the extensive research that journalist Jamie Crawford has done on The Box and its many connections to Jeffrey Epstein’s network, I highly recommend that you do.
Ana Maria Macedo has also been pictured at the infamous Weinstein/Epstein-connected restaurant franchise, Cipriani, with the owner — Giuseppe Cipriani.
Paolo Zampolli has sat on the board of this controversial franchise for nearly 30 years and has a close relationship with the Cipriani family.
We also have to keep in mind that we know others in his network, like Paolo Zampolli and his business partner Fabricio Pereira own and operate bizarre room-rental businesses out of Brazil to this day.
Additionally, while Amanda Ungaro told me she was unaware of how intertwined Ana Maria Gomes Macedo was with Jeffrey Epstein’s network, she did share something else with me…
According to Amanda Ungaro, Ana Maria Macedo also introduced girls to Olacyr de Moraes, a Brazilian businessman who was once the largest individual soybean producer in the world. Before his death in 2015, Olacyr de Moraes publicly surrounded himself with much younger women.
Obviously, that is simply an allegation and shouldn’t be taken as anything more. However, after Amanda Unagro shared this information with me, I found a photograph of Olacyr de Moraes posted to Ana Maria Macedo’s social media in 2010, establishing that he was at least present in her social orbit
In closing, I think it’s clear we still have a lot to learn about Ana Maria Gomes Macedo and her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein’s network, but this is certainly a start.
The more we uncover about Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to Brazil, the harder it becomes to dismiss the country as simply another destination on his international map.
Because somewhere between the models, the recruiters, the money, the properties, and the women whose names continue appearing in these emails is the answer to a much larger question:
What exactly was Jeffrey Epstein building in Brazil… and how much damage did he do that we have yet to learn about?
Chat soon,
B (with help from the amazing Katie Chenoweth + brilliant Xanthe)
1. Luana Lopes Lara, the Brazilian ballerina who founded Kalshi. Given Kate Justice's recent receipts on Lutnick's ties to prediction markets, I really hope someone looks into her. (At the very least, she proves Paolo wrong as far as how intelligent Brazilian women can be!)
2. The picture of Ana Macedo and Bono -- Bono was good friends with accused sex trafficker Joe Robert. (Accused by the Jane Doe who is suing Leon Black / author of the coded diary). Joe Robert's wife in the early 2000s, Jill Sorensen, was a Ford model who had socialized with Marla Maples. Bono is on my list of suspects - why would an entertainer be invited to speak at the World Economic Forum?
3. I have concerns regarding Brazil and the Robert family, but it feels too risky to say them publicly.
That doj redaction on the 10/14 invoice, the same day as another unredacted invoice, is interesting.