Jeffrey Epstein and the Emirati tycoon

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, one of the UAE's most powerful figures, shared messages about business and pleasure with the convicted sex offender for decades

By Rayhan Uddin

Published date: 12 February 2026 

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jeffrey-epstein-and-emirati-tycoon

“You are one of my most trusted friends in very [sic] sense of the word, you have never let me down, not once, not half of once.” 

Those were the words used in June 2013 by Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender, to describe Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem. 

Sulayem is one of the most powerful business figures in the United Arab Emirates. Born in Dubai to a well-connected family, his father was an adviser to the city’s ruling Al Maktoum family. 

Sulayem played an important role in the growth of Dubai as a global economic force. He oversaw the expansion of the Jebel Ali free economic zone as its chair in the 1980s. 

In 2005, two Dubai ports entities merged to create DP World, which has since become one of the world's largest logistics companies. It handles a tenth of the globe’s container trade. 

Sulayem has been its chair since 2007, and its chief executive since 2016. The role has made him a leading Emirati business figure on the global stage. He frequently appears in international forums, often alongside UAE royalty.

Now, emails released by the US Department of Justice, as well as further emails seen by Bloomberg and Drop Site News, reveal that Sulayem had maintained a decades-long professional and personal relationship with Epstein.

The Emirati figure is mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files. 

Middle East Eye asked DP World and Sulayem for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The emails span from 2007 until weeks before Epstein’s death in a prison cell in August 2019. The majority of them were sent after the American financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

The two men discussed visits to Epstein’s private island, introduced each other to powerful figures, and shared content about business, politics and religion. They also candidly – and sometimes degradingly – spoke about sex and women.

Visits to the private island

Emails suggest Sulayem made visits to Little Saint James, the private Caribbean island once owned by Epstein. 

“I really had a very nice time at your island,” the Emirati wrote in June 2013, in one of scores of memos discussing visits to Little Saint James.

When Hurricane Irma devastated the Caribbean in September 2017, Sulayem assured Epstein that he had “engineers” and “resources” to help make the island “hurricane proof”. 

“My right hand man who worked with me on=all the island is a uae national an engineer he is ready he is the best an= has all the background and contacts to do the job,” he wrote. 

Epstein replied: “GREAT!!!”

Sulayem even sought to help Epstein in his efforts to add a private resort to his portfolio. 

“Mr Jeffry Epstein is very dear friend and a business associate of mine,” Sulayem wrote to an architecture firm in December 2016, according to emails reviewed by Drop Site News. 

“He owns two beautiful islands at US Virgin Islands… he wants to develop a private resort only for his , his customers and friends private use.” 

Great St James Cay, a larger island to the north of Epstein’s, was much coveted by the financier. But its owner, Christian Kjaer, did not want to sell it to Epstein, due to his sex offences convictions. 

According to the Miami Herald, to circumvent that, Epstein bought the island through a shell company whose beneficial owner was Sulayem. 

Epstein’s involvement only came to light, the newspaper reported, when his name later appeared on land use permits. 

An aide to Sulayem told the Herald that Epstein asked to use the Emirati’s name in an unspecified business deal, to which he was told no.

The 2016 email to the architect suggests that Sulayem knew that Epstein owned two islands. 

Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors in July 2019. Prosecutors allege that his private island was used as a base for sex trafficking.

There is no suggestion that Sulayem participated in any criminal activity. 

Powerful networks

Sulayem and Epstein frequently utilised each other’s vast networks. 

Epstein introduced the Emirati to Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister. 

“Ehud- sultan . sultan ehud,” the sex offender wrote in a June 2015 email sent to both Sulayem and Barak. 

In July 2018, Sulayem travelled to Tel Aviv for medical treatment for his daughter. In an email to Barak during his stay, he thanked the Israeli premier “for your help with our visa”. 

Barak replied that he would be happy to meet Sulayem during his visit. It’s not clear if the meeting took place. 

A spokesperson for Barak’s office told Bloomberg that the introduction was made in efforts to seek medical assistance for a member of Sulayem’s family in Israel, but no business activities took place between the two. 

Epstein also made introductions between Sulayem and Steve Bannon, the right-wing strategist and former Trump adviser. Emails between Sulayem and Bannon show that the Emirati tycoon organised a helicopter tour of Dubai for the conservative commentator. 

Epstein also helped Sulayem lobby Peter Mandelson – the former British ambassador to the US, who was sacked over his connections with the sex offender – in relation to a £1.8bn ($2.45bn) port project on the River Thames. 

Sulayem sent a brief about the project to Epstein, who forwarded it to Mandelson, then the UK business secretary. 

“I will call and talk to him,” Mandelson replied. 

Further correspondence showed that Sulayem lobbied the UK government to guarantee loans to fund the project. DP World went ahead with the scheme in 2010, and currently runs the London Gateway port. 

Sulayem regularly kept Epstein up to date with information about DP World’s dealings around the world.

In one email, he told the sex offender that he was waiting for approval to acquire a “sensitive” infrastructure asset which would happen following the signing of a bilateral deal between the UAE and Russia. 

“I also received an official invitation from Putin off=ce for a one on one meeting to get the green light directly from him,” he adds. 

Epstein then forwarded that correspondence to an unknown contact with the message “fo your eyes only”. 

In the past two days, firms in the UK and Canada have suspended future ties with DP World over Sulayem’s ties with Epstein. 

Quebec’s La Caisse pension fund – one of DP World’s largest financial partners, which holds a 45 percent stake in DP World Canada – said it had paused future investments until DP World took “necessary actions”.

British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance agency, also paused future capital over Sulayem’s links to Epstein. 

BII jointly owns Berbera port in Somaliland alongside DP World and the Somaliland government, as MEE reported last month.

Discussions about sex and women 

While some of the emails were professional, many were personal too. On numerous occasions, Sulayem discussed women and sex, often using disparaging language. 

In an email from November 2013, he wrote: “By the way the Ukrainian and the Moldavian arrived… Big disappointment the Moldavian is not as attractive as the picture while the Ukrainian is very beautiful.” 

In another email, Sulayem discusses religion with Epstein, explaining an interpretation about a passage of the Quran relating to Muslim relations with Jews and Christians. 

In a follow-up email, he swiftly changes the subject. 

“Thank you my friend I am off the sample a fresh 100% female Russian at my yacht,” the Emirati says. 

In a 2015 email, Sulayem discusses a sexual encounter. 

“This girl is Russian father Cypriot mom I met her two years ago she goes to the American university in Dubai She got engaged but now she back with me,” he says. “The best sex I ever had amazing body.” 

In another email, as reported by Bloomberg, Sulayem tells Epstein about his efforts to meet a supermodel. 

“After several attemps for several months we managed to meet in NY. there is a missunderstanding she she wanted some BUSINESS! while i only wanted some PUSSYNESS!” he writes. 

Epstein replies: “Praise Allah, there are still people like you.”

In one memo, Sulayem describes a woman he “went with” in Paris, listing her age, weight, height, bra size and other details. 

A separate email shows Epstein sending Sulayem a link to escort services in Italy, to which the Emirati responds: “Wow.”

Emails suggest Sulayem mixed the personal with the professional. He told Epstein in June 2016 that he was bringing his “Irish girlfriend” to a meeting with Canadian tribespeople, where he was trying to secure the use of land for port operations. 

He also made jokes about infidelity. One email reads: “Every married man keeps wondering every evening should I go out and look at=what I cannot fuck or stay home and fuck what I don't want to look at!!”

In another email, he appears to acknowledge his own infidelity.

“Mohammed is not like me and when it comes to pussy he is dedicated to his wife,” Sulayem wrote, in an email to Epstein describing an acquaintance. 

The pair often shared lewd and insensitive jokes.

“A friend of mine went to the mosque in saudi,” the Emirati wrote. “He said with all these terrorists Frankly you can't tell wether the guy standing next to you is just scratching his balls or fiddling with the detonator button !!!”

US lawmakers who were allowed access to unredacted Epstein files this week said that a disturbing memo in which Epstein states “I loved the torture video” was sent to Sulayem, according to The Telegraph newspaper in the UK.

Religious greetings and favours 

The emails reveal a deep fondness between Epstein and Sulayem.

They often wished each other well on Muslim and Jewish religious holidays, including Eid and Rosh Hashanah.  

“I really hope this ramadan is peaceful for you. you have been a good friend, and deserve a rest,” Epstein said in August 2010.

They would also encourage and praise each other. After Epstein sent Sulayem a positive Huffington Post article about the financier’s philanthropy, the Emirati said: “Very nice I need to see more articles l=ke this to show the real Jeffery and by the way god bless you my friend.” 

They scratched each other’s backs – sometimes in the form of securing jobs for acquaintances.

“Can we find a job in logistics for s=etlana brother sergey, i sent you his resume?” Epstein asked in October 2016.

Sulayem appareaed to help secure a trainee job at a spa in Turkey for a Russian “masseuse” who worked in Epstein’s “private spa”. 

In another email, Epstein sends what appears to be a CV, with the message “can we find a position for her in any dubai hotel.?”

The two helped each other secure other favours, too.

In the summer of 2017, Sulayem ordered 30 ancestry DNA kits for Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, and had them delivered to Epstein’s mansion. 

One email shows Epstein telling his assistant to register the kits under the name “rashid epstein”. 

Elsewhere, Sulayem was pictured with Epstein in May 2014 looking at a piece of cloth which resembles the sacred Kiswa from Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It was an item which appeared to be much sought after by the sex offender, according to other emails.

Years later, pieces of the sacred cloth were shipped to Epstein through a number of intermediaries.