diff --git a/model-engine/model_engine_server/domain/use_cases/llm_model_endpoint_use_cases.py b/model-engine/model_engine_server/domain/use_cases/llm_model_endpoint_use_cases.py
index e201baee..bf15c10e 100644
--- a/model-engine/model_engine_server/domain/use_cases/llm_model_endpoint_use_cases.py
+++ b/model-engine/model_engine_server/domain/use_cases/llm_model_endpoint_use_cases.py
@@ -730,9 +730,11 @@ def load_model_weights_sub_commands_gcs(
             " && /opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud config set disable_usage_reporting true 2>/dev/null"
         )
 
-        file_selection_str = '--include="*.model" --include="*.model.v*" --include="*.json" --include="*.safetensors" --include="*.txt" --exclude="optimizer*"'
-        if trust_remote_code:
-            file_selection_str += ' --include="*.py"'
+        # gcloud storage rsync only supports --exclude (Python regex), not --include.
+        excludes = ['--exclude="optimizer.*"']
+        if not trust_remote_code:
+            excludes.append('--exclude=".*\\.py$"')
+        file_selection_str = " ".join(excludes)
 
         subcommands.append(
             f"/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud storage rsync -r"
diff --git a/model-engine/tests/unit/domain/test_llm_use_cases.py b/model-engine/tests/unit/domain/test_llm_use_cases.py
index 26dc4ceb..e254aac1 100644
--- a/model-engine/tests/unit/domain/test_llm_use_cases.py
+++ b/model-engine/tests/unit/domain/test_llm_use_cases.py
@@ -666,8 +666,7 @@ def test_load_model_weights_sub_commands(
         " | tar -xz -C /opt"
         " && /opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud config set disable_usage_reporting true 2>/dev/null",
         "/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud storage rsync -r"
-        ' --include="*.model" --include="*.model.v*" --include="*.json"'
-        ' --include="*.safetensors" --include="*.txt" --exclude="optimizer*"'
+        ' --exclude="optimizer.*" --exclude=".*\\.py$"'
         " gs://fake-bucket/fake-checkpoint test_folder",
     ]
     assert expected_result == subcommands
@@ -686,9 +685,8 @@ def test_load_model_weights_sub_commands(
         " | tar -xz -C /opt"
         " && /opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud config set disable_usage_reporting true 2>/dev/null",
         "/opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud storage rsync -r"
-        ' --include="*.model" --include="*.model.v*" --include="*.json"'
-        ' --include="*.safetensors" --include="*.txt" --exclude="optimizer*"'
-        ' --include="*.py" gs://fake-bucket/fake-checkpoint test_folder',
+        ' --exclude="optimizer.*"'
+        " gs://fake-bucket/fake-checkpoint test_folder",
     ]
     assert expected_result == subcommands