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Here's what NYMag had to say contemporaneously about Anna Malova's "odd" participation in Trump's 1998 Miss Universe pageant: nymag.com/nymetro/news...

NOT RUSSIAN TO GIVE UP HER TITLE It’s nice to know yesterday’s beauty queens aren’t always written off as over the hill. Oddly, Anna Malova was allowed to compete in this year’s Miss Universe pageant even though she was Miss Russia in 1995. According to beauty-world sources, it’s not a coincidence that the stunning Slav, who wound up a finalist in last month’s event, is a friend of Donald Trump, co-owner of the event. Did the Donald pull a few strings on an old friend’s behalf? “That’s something that’s never done,” a Miss Universe spokesperson says. “Russia has a pageant, and she won it fair and square. It’s impossible for Donald to select someone from another country.” Another spokesperson agrees. “That’s not the ethics of the pageant; our company has a great degree of integrity, and that’s not the way we run our company … that kind of stuff doesn’t go on in modern-day network TV.” While the Miss Universe camp insists Malova won the Russian event honestly, Malova’s agent says, “I don’t think she was Miss Russia this year. She was Miss Russia several years ago.” When asked for documentation that Malova – who lives in Trump Tower – won the title a second time (perhaps an occurrence unique to Russian contests), the Miss Universe Pageant headquarters refused to furnish it. Trump was out of the country and could not be reached for comment, and a spokesperson would only say, “I haven’t heard about Trump giving any preferential treatment to Malova.”

aug 17, 2025, 12:42 pm • 4 1

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@craigunger.bsky.social writes about all of this in "American Kompromat," excerpted here: www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01...

As Epstein’s operation continued into the 2000s, he began importing girls from the former Soviet Union. After the 1998 Miss Universe pageant, Anna Malova signed up with Karin Models, which had been founded by Epstein friend Jean-Luc Brunel. Known as “le fantôme” (the ghost), Brunel, who also owned MC2 Modeling Agency, was the subject of a 1988 piece that aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes in which several young models accused him of groping them sexually, drugging their drinks, and rape. “I really despise Jean-Luc. … This is a guy who should be behind bars,” John Casablancas, the late modeling agent, told journalist Michael Gross, whose book Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women alleges that Brunel repeatedly drugged and raped models. According to Casablancas, Brunel and his pals “were very well known in Paris for roaming the clubs. They would invite girls and put drugs in their drinks.” And Casablancas, who married a 17-year-old when he was 50, would have known, having used his stature in the modeling business to indulge in similar activities with young girls at a Look of the Year modeling competition at the New York Plaza Hotel, with his friend Donald Trump, then the hotel’s owner. Trump was closely involved with the contest, in which the average age was 15, and, according to The Guardian, several of the models said that they were required by their agency to have dinner with Trump and Casablancas.

Their friendship frayed beyond repair, Epstein became less discreet as the keeper of Trump’s secrets and was not averse to showing off potentially compromising photos of him and Trump. An associate of Epstein’s who asked not to be identified told me that Epstein showed him one photo of Trump with a topless young girl. In another, the source said, Trump is with two young girls who are said to be laughing as they point out what appears to be a wet spot in an unfortunate location on his pants. The description of the photo suggested that it was a semen stain—but the photos have never been released.

aug 17, 2025, 12:55 pm • 2 1 • view