The Photographer Who Helped Launch Melania Trump’s Modeling Career Is a Recurring Character in the Epstein Files

For much of the 1990s, Antoine Verglas was one of fashion’s most sought-after photographers, celebrated for his raw, natural-light portraits of supermodels including Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen, Naomi Campbell, and Stephanie Seymour. His work appeared in Elle, Vogue, GQ, Esquire, Maxim, and Sports Illustrated, helping define the era’s sensual, off-duty aesthetic.

Verglas also played a central role in launching Melania Trump’s modeling career after she arrived in the United States from Slovenia, photographing her roughly a dozen times—including capturing her most iconic nude images, among them the British GQ spread shot aboard Donald Trump’s private plane.

What has received far less scrutiny is how Verglas remained embedded in Jeffrey Epstein’s world—long after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution of a minor and his registration as a sex offender.

Verglas reveals just one degree of separation between Epstein and Melania and offers a window into the elite modeling ecosystem Epstein repeatedly exploited, where introductions became access points, visas became leverage, and young women moved through a world he had already learned how to control.

There are 681 results, some of them duplicates, for the name “Verglas” in the Department of Justice’s Epstein files library, including references to his son Julien, for whom Verglas sought Epstein’s help advising on a career in finance. The files—which mention a nude photo shoot, shared image files, scheduling logistics, and payment—show they collaborated at various points over five years.

In an August 13, 2012 email, to Epstein with the subject line “Photo shoot,” a redacted sender outlined Verglas’s availability for a shoot involving up to six girls, noting, “Also, he assumes no styling will be needed since they are nudes.” Two days later, a redacted sender forwarded to Epstein Verglas’s quoted day rate: $10,000.

Verglas pointed to a follow-up email where a redacted name sends an email about how Epstein wanted him to shoot a Helmut Newton–style photo and the girls needed clothes like suits, blazers, shoes, and trench coats. In the files, there are two images of Newton Bar, where Newton’s famous photograph of naked Amazons in high heels covers the walls.

“They weren’t nude shoot [sic],” Verglas said in an email to Vanity Fair. “It was a portrait session of some of his staff—six people. Mr. Epstein bought photos of top models and celebrities from me that were sold in galleries. I only did three assignments for him.”

The correspondence suggests the relationship extended well beyond a single assignment. Verglas Epstein’s assistant, Lesley Groff, coordinated at least one communication between the two. Verglas said they met less than 10 times between 2012 and 2017. Epstein requested Verglas bring his camera to a meeting in 2015 and Verglas appeared on his schedule two weeks after the request, again noted as arriving with camera and flash.

Earlier, in 2013, Verglas sent Epstein a file labeled “Fwd: JE_Plane_JPEG,” writing, “some images of last thursday not retouched let me know xxx AV.”

Epstein and Verglas also exchanged image files, in which faces and bodies have been redacted. One 2015 email to Epstein from an unknown sender included an attachment titled, “Antoine Black and White Nudes.”

“These are photos of models and celebrities,” Verglas explained in an email to Vanity Fair. “Most of them [sic] for sale in galleries. As far as I know, no victims, no minors. I rarely shoot minors except for family portraits or a special assignment.”

While the emails do not specify the photography subjects’ identities or ages, the shoots appear to have continued into at least 2016. Epstein’s girlfriend Karyna Shuliak wrote in one message: “Hi girls! Wanted to let you know that Antoine Verglas is going to do a photoshoot [for] us all on September 7th. If you want to think of any special outfits, [etc.]. Should be a lot of fun!”

That was followed by another email from a redacted sender: “That’s so much fun!! Girls I can’t wait to strip down and show you my chef-i=g [sic] rolls… Yeah baby!”

In one 2017 email, Verglas sent Epstein as many as 74 images, also redacted. Verglas said his interactions with Epstein were “strictly professional in nature,” and the fact that their tone was friendly or cordial should not be interpreted as a personal relationship.

In one instance, Epstein helped Verglas’s son Julien pursue a career in finance. There is a copy of Julien’s résumé in the files and an email to Epstein stating that Julien would come over for mentorship. Verglas said he wanted Epstein to give his son “a tip or two” to become a securities trader. The two met once, according to the emails. Julien’s LinkedIn shows that he currently works as an equity trader at Chimera Securities. Julien did not respond to a request for comment.

Verglas also assisted Shuliak with securing a visa in 2015, arranging proof of accommodation through a hotel-owning friend in St. Barths. Two days later, instructions were sent to deliver a case of Rothschild wine to Verglas with a handwritten note on Epstein’s stationery: “Thank you for your help. Jeffrey Epstein.” Verglas said he was helping because all of the hotels were closed in October.

Verglas didn’t just photograph Melania—he helped create the imagery that propelled her career: the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot with an inflatable orca; Maximum Golf, where she reclines in a bathtub covered in golf balls. Verglas has said he heard about Melania from Paolo Zampolli, a longtime associate of both Epstein’s and Trump’s who was running ID Models in 1999, shortly before Melania began seeking to secure her permanent residency in the US and at the height of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. Verglas said he did not know Epstein at the time.

According to The Washington Post, Melania ultimately obtained an EB-1 “Einstein visa,” reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability. Verglas photographed her again in 2011 for Haute Living.

“I loved her beauty, stature, and elegance,” Verglas told WWD of the first lady in September 2024. “She was pretty reserved. She was not an extroverted person. We were never close, but we worked together a dozen times. She was always very professional and nice to the staff and the people on the team around us.”

During the 2016 election, Verglas sent a cease-and-desist letter to a PAC for using his racy GQ photos of Melania in an ad campaign, telling Page Six, “When I work with people, there is a trust. So I just wanted to assure her I was in shock.”

The publisher of Melania’s memoir, Skyhorse, contacted Verglas in 2024 to request the photos he captured of her during the British GQ shoot, Sports Illustrated, and others for the book.

“I’m glad these images are resurfacing like this, and I’m happy that she’s embracing them, and that her and her husband like them, and it makes me happy that I did not do such a bad job in the end,” Verglas told Vanity Fair of the GQ spread. “I see that she’s celebrating her beauty and her body, those images and others.”

Melania declined to comment.

Throughout the years, Epstein continued to maintain the relationship with Verglas. In 2017, he wrote Verglas, “Woody Allen is looking for a beautiful 20-24 girl to play a college girl in a comedy. Thoughts?”

In 2015 an unknown sender forwarded Epstein an article shared by Verglas about scopolamine—a powerful drug derived from trumpet plants reported to cause memory loss and extreme suggestibility. The email subject was of a Daily Mail article titled “Scopolamine: Powerful drug growing in the forests of Colombia that ELIMINATES free will.”

Epstein, according to two separate emails, appeared to have been growing the toxic Trumpet plant, which the drug is derived from, in his nursery. The plant is also referred to as Brugmansia or “Angel’s Trumpet” for its vibrant bell shape and is commonly found in gardens.

“Ask chris about my trumpet plants at nursery?” Epstein wrote in a 2014 email to Ann Rodriguez, who appears to have been the general manager of his private island, Little St. James, according to Miami New Times. He also mentioned “Trumpet flowers” in a 2013 email to Rodriguez, alongside other landscaping items like pool trees, blocking trees, and new palms.

Scopolamine is used medically to treat motion sickness, administered in controlled doses to block certain receptors in the nervous system. In illicit contexts, it has been linked to trafficking networks and often evades routine toxicology screens.

“Although I don’t remember the context surrounding this email, which was sent more than 10 years ago to many people, including members of my family,” Verglas said in a statement to VF, “I do know that at the time it was a subject of great concern and that everyone was talking about it with horror. How could I have imagined that Mr. Epstein was secretly cultivating them, as I recently discovered in the files made public by the US government?”