Melania
Trump was paid for modeling jobs before gaining work visa, records
show
Modeling
firm’s records show wife of Republican nominee was paid for 10
assignments before gaining US work visa in October 1996
Associated Press
Saturday 5 November
2016 02.40 GMT
Melania Trump was
paid for 10 modeling jobs in the US worth $20,056 that occurred in
the seven weeks before she had legal permission to work in the
country, according to detailed accounting ledgers, contracts and
related documents provided to the Associated Press.
The details of
Melania Trump’s early paid modeling work in the US emerged in the
final days of a bitter presidential campaign in which her husband,
Donald Trump, has taken a hard line on immigration laws and those who
violate them. Trump has proposed broader use of the government’s
E-verify system allowing employers to check whether job applicants
are authorized to work. He has noted that federal law prohibits
illegally paying immigrants.
Melania Trump, who
received a green card in March 2001 and became a US citizen in 2006,
has always maintained that she arrived in the country legally and
never violated the terms of her immigration status. During the
presidential campaign, she has cited her story to defend her
husband’s hard line on immigration.
The wife of the
Republican presidential nominee, who sometimes worked as a model
under just her first name, has said through an attorney that she
first came to the US from Slovenia on 27 August 1996, on a B1/B2
visitor visa and then obtained an H-1B work visa on 18 October 1996.
The documents
obtained by the AP show she was paid for 10 modeling assignments
between 10 September and 15 October, during a time when her visa
allowed her generally to be in the US and look for work but not
perform paid work. The documents examined by the AP indicate that the
modeling assignments would have been outside the bounds of her visa.
It is highly
unlikely the discovery will affect her citizenship status. The
government can seek to revoke the US citizenship of immigrants after
the fact in cases when it determines a person willfully
misrepresented or concealed facts relevant to their naturalization.
But in practice the government does this in only the most egregious
cases, such as instances involving terrorism or war crimes.
The disclosures
about the payments come as Melania Trump takes on a more substantial
role advocating for her husband’s candidacy. She made her first
speech in months on Thursday, in which she spoke of her time working
as a model in Europe and her decision to come to the US.
“As a young
entrepreneur, I wanted to follow my dream to a place where freedom
and opportunity were in abundance. So of course, I came here,” she
said. “Living and working in America was a true blessing, but I
wanted something more. I wanted to be an American.”
The documents
obtained by the AP included ledgers, other accounting documents and a
management agreement signed by Melania Trump from Metropolitan
International Management that covered parts of 1996 and 1997. The AP
obtained the files this week after seeking copies since August from
employees of the now-defunct modeling firm, after Melania Trump made
comments this summer that appeared inconsistent with US immigration
rules.
A New York
immigration lawyer whom she asked to review her immigration
documents, Michael J. Wildes, also reviewed some of the ledgers at
AP’s request. Wildes said in a brief statement: “These documents,
which have not been verified, do not reflect our records including
corresponding passport stamps.” He did not elaborate or answer
additional questions asking for clarification. Wilde appeared to be
referring to her arrival in the US on 27 August 1996, a day after the
ledgers list a charge for car service to pick up Melania Trump from
the airport. Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks also did not
answer additional written questions from the AP.
Since questions
arose earlier this year, Melania Trump has declined to publicly
release her immigration records. Wildes, the immigration lawyer,
released a letter in September that laid out the details of what he
said her immigration records show, including a seven-week window in
which she was in the US before her work visa was issued.
During those seven
weeks, the ledgers list modeling work for clients that included
Fitness magazine and Bergdorf Goodman department store. The
management agreement, which said it was not an employment agreement,
included a handwritten date of 27 August 1996. The top of the
document said it was “made and entered into as of this 4th day of
September 1996”.
Many of the
documents were part of a legal dispute related to the dissolution of
the firm in the late 1990s and were found recently in storage. The
accounting ledgers for the firm’s models were listed on hundreds of
pages of continuously fed paper that appeared yellowed with age. They
were authenticated by a former employee who worked at the firm at the
time. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because this
person feared retaliation and threats from Trump’s presidential
campaign.
Exhibit markings
with the records were also consistent with documents filed in New
York state court, including a deposition of one former partner that
referred to the same exhibit number. The sworn testimony describing
the exhibit’s content matches the documents obtained by the AP.
A former partner,
Paolo Zampolli, who previously told the AP he recruited Melania Trump
to come to the US as a model, confirmed the contract language was
used by his firm and his signature appeared on the document. Melania
Trump’s signature on the contract resembled her signature on her
marriage license recorded in 2005. Asked about the two dates on the
document, Zampolli said he usually vacationed in Europe each August
and likely arranged for the contract to be formally executed when he
returned to New York after Labor Day, even though Melania Trump had
signed it eight days earlier.
Zampolli previously
told the AP that she obtained a work visa before she modeled
professionally in the US. He said the ledgers for Melania Trump were
consistent with printouts used by his firm at the time, but he would
not personally vouch for them because he said money matters were
handled by the company’s chief financial officer, who has since
died.
Zampolli said he did
not recall her working without legal permission. “Honestly, I don’t
know. It’s like 20 years ago,” he said. “The contract looks a
real one and the standard one.”
Foreigners are not
allowed to use a visitor visa to do paid work in the US for American
companies. Doing so would violate the terms of that visa and could
prohibit a foreigner from later changing his or her immigration
status in the US or bar the foreigner from the US again without
special permission to come back. The E-verify system started in 1997
– after Melania Trump came to the country – and was dramatically
expanded after 2007.
Some ledgers
obtained by the AP identify Melania Trump by her professional name
and detail her involvement with the modeling agency from 18 July
1996, through to 26 September 1997. Other documents from the same
accounting ledgers identify her as Melanija Knaus and list $20,526 in
gross earnings for the period before she was granted her work visa on
18 October 1996. The documents also show the modeling company paid
for her rent, lent her money and paid for her pager.
Some ledgers were
first made available to True.Ink, an online lifestyle publication,
and then independently obtained and verified by the AP.
Metropolitan
International Management managed the careers of about 65 women in
1996 and 1997, according to court records. It paid the women as
independent contractors, collecting a 20% commission and deducting
expenses. The ledger shows the firm also deducted federal taxes from
the models’ gross earnings, including Melania Trump’s.
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