Email alleges Emirati sultan recommended Cypriot woman to Epstein

Emails released in the latest tranche of the Jeffrey Epstein files suggest Emirati businessman Sultan bin Sulayem recommending a young Cypriot woman to Epstein in a private exchange in 2015, according to documents reviewed by the Cyprus Mail.

In an email dated September 30 2015, bin Sulayem wrote to Epstein describing a woman he said he had met two years earlier while she was studying at the American University in Dubai.

He identified her as having a Russian father and a Cypriot mother, adding that she had recently resumed a relationship with him after a brief engagement.

The message contained explicit personal remarks about their sexual relationship.

The email places bin Sulayem among a network of prominent figures who maintained personal contact with Epstein in the years before the financier’s arrest and subsequent death.

Bin Sulayem is chairman and chief executive of Dubai Ports World, which operates the port of Limassol under a concession with the Cypriot government.

The correspondence forms part of more than three million pages of material released by the US justice department linked to Epstein, who was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

He had previously pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution.

Other emails in the same release show Epstein discussing Cyprus as a possible corporate jurisdiction with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak before dismissing it as “dangerous” and reputationally risky.

Separate exchanges also reference Cyprus as a travel location and point of financial discussion with figures including Steve Bannon and author Michael Wolff.

The documents do not allege that the woman referenced in the 2015 email was underage.

Epstein denied wrongdoing before his death, while investigations into the scope of his network and the conduct of associates continue to fuel political and public scrutiny in the United States and beyond.