Sultan Bin Sulayem

The central significance of Sultan Bin Sulayem in the Epstein network is what his relationship reveals about Epstein's role as a private diplomatic back-channel between the UAE and Israel — two countries that, throughout most of the documented period, had no formal diplomatic relations. The Abraham Accords normalizing UAE-Israel ties were not signed until September 2020, yet the Sulayem-Barak-Epstein channel was operational at least five years earlier.

The channel began taking shape at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in June 2015, where Ehud Barak — Israel's former Prime Minister and Defense Minister — met Sulayem in person. Barak's debriefing email to Epstein, titled "Fwd: Touch Base SS," addresses Sulayem with the Arabic honorific "Khadrat El Sultan" and reports that "SS" expressed interest in "finding some area for actual cooperation." Epstein had orchestrated the meeting. The same SPIEF trip saw Barak meeting Russian Central Bank Governor Nabiulina, Foreign Minister Lavrov, former Finance Minister Kudrin, VTB chief Kostin, and Sberbank chief Gref — a roster reflecting the level of access available through the channel.

By July 2018, the back-channel had developed into a direct relationship. Sulayem emailed Barak directly: "Dear Ehud, This is Sultan bin sulayem we were introduced by Jeffrey and we met at the st Petersburg forum a few times first of all I want to thank you for your help with our visa I am in Tell Aviv since July 3rd." Visa assistance from a former Israeli Prime Minister to a sitting UAE government official would have been difficult to arrange through official diplomatic channels at the time. Barak's wife Nili Priell arranged housing — a three-bedroom Tel Aviv penthouse at 1 Rothschild Boulevard — where Sulayem's family stayed for three months from July through October 2018. During this period, Sulayem's entire family received medical treatment at Assaf Harofe Medical Center with temporary patient IDs, an arrangement coordinated by Epstein through his [email protected] and [email protected] addresses. Epstein vouched for Sulayem to the hospital: "thx, he is a very good guy."

Sulayem's professional position made him a high-value contact for Epstein's network. As Chairman and Group CEO of DP World — a Dubai state-owned company that operates 78 marine terminals and inland terminals across six continents — and Chairman of its parent Dubai World, Sulayem sat at a critical intersection of Gulf state power and global trade infrastructure. DP World's operations touch over 40 countries, making Sulayem a Politically Exposed Person (PEP) whose associations carried enhanced regulatory scrutiny obligations for any financial institution involved — a status that Deutsche Bank apparently failed to flag in its Epstein account compliance reviews.

The most concrete evidence of Epstein's role as Sulayem's political fixer is the London Gateway Port correspondence. In November 2009, Sulayem — as DP World Chairman — drafted a formal letter to Lord Mandelson, then UK Secretary of State for Business, seeking British government financial guarantees for the London Gateway Port and Park project, valued at 672 million pounds in its first phase alone. Before sending the letter, Sulayem forwarded it to Epstein with the note: "Dear Jeffrey I am sending this to Peter in the next 20 mnts." The first-name reference to a sitting British cabinet minister, with official DP World correspondence routed through Epstein for review, illustrates the intermediary role: Epstein had introduced Sulayem to Mandelson and continued to function as the go-between for a major infrastructure deal between Dubai and the United Kingdom. The letter was sent ahead of a state visit by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai — placing Epstein's facilitation role at the level of sovereign diplomacy.

Epstein's corporate connection to Sulayem also involved Jide Zeitlin, whose documented link to Sulayem through EFTA02453039 suggests an additional corporate or advisory relationship that has not yet been fully traced.

The correspondence also documents Sulayem facilitating the movement of women connected to Epstein. On June 5, 2017, Sulayem directly emailed Fettah Tamince, Chairman of Rixos Hotels, regarding a Russian woman: "She works as the personal masseuse at the private Spa of our friend Jeffery Epstien. I would appreciate if you can arrange for her to work as a trainee at Rixos Antalia spa so she gains better experiences." Tamince replied immediately: "Dear sultan I will make sure asap." The woman, who held a Russian passport, wrote separately that she was "ready to go as soon as possible." Sulayem forwarded her passport documentation to facilitate the arrangement.

A senior UAE government official personally intervened with a Turkish hotel magnate to place one of Epstein's staff members in an overseas spa facility. The speed and casualness of the exchange — Tamince's instant "I will make sure asap" — suggests this was not an unusual request within their relationship. The involvement of a Russian national with access to Epstein's private spa, being moved into a Turkish resort chain, traces a cross-border pipeline for women that operated through Epstein's Gulf and Turkish contacts.

Earlier communications are more cryptic. In a message documented in EFTA02465174, after Epstein had apparently sent people to visit Sulayem in Dubai, Sulayem responded: "thank you, they are a treasure, no girl in dubai is safe tonite." The exact context is unclear, but the language is suggestive and consistent with patterns documented across Epstein's broader network. Separately, in April 2016, Epstein responded to an unnamed photo sent by Sulayem with the same phrase — "no girl in dubai is safe tonite" — suggesting an established pattern of communication about women between the two men.

Sulayem's appearances at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) connect him to the Russian dimension of Epstein's operations. At SPIEF 2015, Barak — reporting to Epstein — described meetings with the most senior figures in Russian state finance: Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiulina, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, VTB Bank chief Andrey Kostin, and Sberbank chief German Gref. Also present were Baroness Rothschild, Lord Mandelson, and "senior people from David's branch of the Rothschild family." Putin himself was interviewed by Charlie Rose at the forum with former heads of state in attendance.

The forum organizer, Sergey Belyakov, maintained a documented connection to Sulayem. Barak's report to Epstein carefully distinguished between "Sergey" (Belyakov, the organizer) and "SS" (Sulayem), noting that SS "expressed interest in finding some area for actual cooperation." Sulayem later paneled alongside Mandelson at SPIEF, extending his presence at the forum beyond a single year. This positions Sulayem as a recurring participant in a venue that served as Epstein's primary interface with Russian state power.

The connection between Tom Barrack and Sulayem adds an American political dimension. When Epstein asked Barrack in October 2010, "paris will you see sultan?," Barrack replied: "I did. He is in exile quite sad." The reference to exile suggests Sulayem experienced a period of political difficulty — likely connected to the 2009 Dubai World debt crisis, when the company sought to restructure billion in debt. By August 2011, Barrack reported the relationship had recovered: "Just saw Sultan who likes you a lot! I told him you are the best." In January 2017, Sulayem consulted Epstein about whether to accept Barrack's invitation to Trump's inauguration — a decision that carried diplomatic implications for a senior UAE official.

Two episodes in the Sulayem correspondence align with Epstein's documented interest in collecting biological and personal data on associates. In 2015, Epstein ordered 30 23andMe Ancestry Personal Genetic Service kits totaling $3,151.95, billed under the alias "James Miller" via PayPal and shipped to a UAE address for Sulayem. Sulayem requested that all 30 kits be registered under a single name. When the order was repeated in May-June 2017 — this time shipped to Epstein's residence at 9 East 71st Street — the bulk purchase triggered a compliance review by 23andMe. Epstein's staff intervened with customer service, explaining that Sulayem "would like to give them to his co-workers so they too may enjoy investigating their ancestry. Sultan participated with his own DNA and found it fascinating."

The stated explanation is plausible, though several details warrant scrutiny. Thirty DNA kits distributed from a single registration point, ordered through an alias, with Epstein's direct involvement in resolving a compliance flag — this pattern is consistent with Epstein's documented interest in genetic data collection across his network. Whether the kits were used as described or served some other purpose in Epstein's data-gathering operations remains an open question.

Sulayem's broader communication patterns also reveal the intimacy and operational nature of the relationship. He shared his real-time location with Epstein via Apple Maps pins from locations including Gambia and Geneva. He sent Epstein aircraft comparison documents in June 2013, suggesting they discussed private aviation. He asked Epstein to purchase a "death watch" countdown clock from Amazon, specifying it should count past 2050. These details indicate a relationship of close personal trust between a senior Gulf state official and Epstein, who was by this point a registered sex offender.