WASHINGTON — An unlicensed plastic surgeon nicknamed “Dr. Frankenstein” cut his ankle monitor and disappeared three days before his trial this month for allegedly disfiguring patients in Florida — adding to a diplomatic crisis between Brazil and the US with personal ties to the White House.
Joao Araujo — married to a critic of first lady Melania Trump and waging a messy feud with a State Department envoy — vanished on the morning of Aug. 1, avoiding trial on 14 counts, including felonies for grand theft, practicing medicine without a license and fraud at his Miami-area clinic.
Four sources close to the case told The Post that he’s believed to be in Brazil, which generally does not extradite its own citizens.
Araujo, 57, surrendered his only known passport, issued by Brazil, as a condition of his $20,500 bond, the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office told The Post.
If Brazil issued new travel documents to facilitate his escape, “this would be a complete disaster for the already tense US-Brazil relationship,” a high-ranking US official told The Post.
The getaway coincides with a mounting diplomatic rift.
Brazil in July blocked the incoming US ambassador, former Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, saying he was selected without the country’s consent, and denied visas for two State Department officials who reportedly intended to monitor the country’s October election, in which leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faces conservative Flávio Bolsonaro, who met with President Trump in June.
The Trump administration retaliated and canceled the visa of the Brazilian ambassador, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti.
Araujo’s wife and codefendant Amanda Ungaro is the estranged former romantic partner of Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships Paolo Zampolli, who is widely credited with introducing Melania Trump to the future president in 1998.
Ungaro made vague insinuations this year about knowing secret information about the first lady’s past as she and Zampolli fought for custody of their teenage son.
An email signed with Ungaro’s name from her husband’s email account claimed to The Post that “he’s not in Brazil, but he’s very close to where [Zampolli] is,” apparently referring to southern Europe — a claim that the four people involved in the case believe is a red herring.
One source said they spoke to Araujo after his return to Brazil. Another said that a relative had contacted him in Brazil.
The biggest piece of evidence came from “Dr. Frankenstein” himself, who appeared Sunday on a podcast with Brazilian journalist Hildegard Angel, in which he boasted he fled the US and gave names of Brazilian officials he had interacted with regarding his wife’s case.
He did not explain who may have aided his own escape, though he spoke about his connections to judges in Brazil.
The Brazilian embassy in Washington said it had no information on the case, including whether Araujo returned to the country, and would not say whether Araujo was issued travel documents after surrendering his passport to authorities in Florida.
“Brazil’s law about providing personal information to third parties is very strict,” an embassy spokesperson said in an email.
Araujo did not provide comment. His lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said he was unaware of Araujo’s whereabouts and otherwise declined to comment.
Ungaro was detained last year by immigration agents for being in the US on an expired visa. She alleged her detention was set in motion by Zampolli, which he denied. A court filing viewed by The Post said she was allowed to self-deport to Brazil in late September or early October.
Ungaro’s relocation meant she avoided standing trial for her alleged role in Araujo’s enterprise.
‘Harmed my soul’
Araujo’s nickname “Dr. Frankenstein” is used among critics who liken his work to that of the fictional scientist who created a monster by stitching together various body parts.
His disappearance denies restitution to his alleged victims for their physical and financial ordeals and leaves his bondsman standing to lose the sum posted for his pre-trial release.
One of Araujo’s former patients, identified in court records, told The Post that Araujo “harmed my soul” with lopsided liposuction on her arms and the sides of her body and dangerous butt injections.
“He had a fake clinic and I had no idea,” she said, requesting anonymity to speak candidly about the experience.
“His eyes were so convincing. I thought he was such a great guy.”
The woman spent tens of thousands of dollars with Araujo and Ungaro, according to the criminal complaint against the pair, and recalled being treated like a friend by Ungaro, whom she said plied patients with champagne while recommending procedures alongside Araujo.
Many patients were fellow Brazilians living in the Miami area.
“It’s insane that when I went to fix my body, he made it lopsided,” she said.
Later, she said she found out that “the injections that he was injecting into my buttocks were not FDA-approved — thank God I am alive so far.”
The victim’s mother visited on one occasion and agreed to a laser treatment on her face, but left with burns that took a month to heal. “She was so devastated,” the woman recounted.
Other incidents cited in news reports around the time of Araujo and Ungaro’s June 2025 arrest include fillers that went awry in a different patient, forming into a lump on the lip and hardening on their jaw and cheekbones.
A sting operation by Aventura, Fla., police — with a detective pretending to be interested in a chin liposuction procedure — busted the clinic, which also recommended the cop undergo laser treatment.
“The victims in this case would have been eligible for restitution; however, because Araujo fled the country, the case never reached that stage,” said a spokesperson for the state attorney’s office, which is led by elected Democrat Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
The four sources close to the case noted that Araujo made it clear he wanted to return to Brazil — even requesting permission from a judge last year, which was denied due to the country’s constitutional prohibition on extraditing native-born citizens.
Shortly after that denial, prosecutors attempted to revoke Araujo’s bond, citing “criminal intelligence information that the Defendant has the means and the intention to leave the jurisdiction.”
Two people involved in the case said Araujo was caught last August searching for flights to Europe, possibly as an indirect way of reaching Brazil. His legal team successfully argued he was attempting to help others buy those tickets.
The saga is likely to drag on — with concern that Araujo might begin operating again in Brazil after leaving behind disfigured patients in the US.
His wife Ungaro, meanwhile, told The Post she had three conversations with Senate offices last week, claiming she was in touch with the Senate Oversight Committee (which does not exist). An unsigned email from Araujo’s account said her information “could open up a whole new chapter connected to the Jeffrey Epstein era.”
Ungaro this April raged against Melania Trump in since-deleted tweets, writing: “Maybe you should be afraid of what I know … of who you are, and who your husband is.”
One day after Ungaro’s tweets, Melania Trump gave a shocking public statement declaring “I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump,” with the first lady’s office saying “the lies must stop.” Although Ungaro did not mention Epstein in her tweets, The Miami Herald reported that Ungaro arrived in the US as a 16-year-old model aboard the notorious sex trafficker’s plane.
Zampolli told The Post that he was “truly concerned” about Ungaro’s mental well-being and feels “very bad for the nonsense she said” about Melania Trump.
Of Araujo, he said: “I’m not that sad that he’s not depriving U.S. taxpayer money to keep him in jail here. I’m truly afraid for the people of Brazil, as we have proof that they are operating the butcher shop again. They had dozens of victims in Florida. Imagine what they will do back home in Brazil.”
The US Marshals Service did not immediately provide information on its search for Araujo. Melania Trump’s spokesman declined to comment and the White House did not offer a statement.
