Arya News - Jeffrey Epstein surrounded himself with presidents and princes. Yet hours before his death, he decided to make his last telephone call to a Belarusian dentist.
Jeffrey Epstein surrounded himself with presidents and princes. Yet hours before his death, he decided to make his last telephone call to a Belarusian dentist.
His girlfriend Karyna Shuliak had stuck by the paedophile until the bitter end, while the rest of his inner circle fled. Her reward, if she ever receives it, will be vast: $100m (about £73m).
Little was previously known about Ms Shuliak, 36, who was plucked from eastern Europe at 20 years old and is the main beneficiary of his fortune.
Perhaps the most striking item she was bequeathed was a 33-carat diamond ring, “flanked by baguette-cut diamonds mounted in platinum”. The US financier, who died in prison in 2019, aged 66, had described it as an engagement band.
Documents just released as part of the Epstein files shed light on her role in his shadowy orbit – at once intimate, subservient and fraught with tension.
Epstein warned Ms Shuliak that ‘there are always women around’ and it would be a problem if it made her jealous
In 2010, Ms Shuliak, then living in Belarus ’s capital, Minsk, was introduced to Epstein by a Russian woman, and captured his attention in a way few others did.
She emailed him in 2012, four years after he was convicted in Florida of procuring a child for prostitution: “You are the purest man out of all men.” But their nine-year relationship was also volatile, their messages show.
After their introduction, Ms Shuliak wrote to say she could not accept his “help”, due to “some views which strongly stay in my mind, no matter how stupid it may look”. It is not clear what the help was. Epstein forwarded the email to the Russian woman and said: “Guess she read the press”.
Despite her misgivings, they stayed in contact and she entered the US under the guise of working as his maid, before taking up a place at Columbia University in New York.
Karyna Shuliak, seen in New York in 2024, will inherit millions from Epstein if any of his fortune remains after his victims have been paid compensation - Mega
Epstein’s emails could, at times, be sharp. In one, he complained there were “not enough kisses, not enough time, not enough sex”, to which she replied that he had “absolutely ruined” her day.
In another email, he berated her: “You are in dental school, not the front lines in a war where people are dying”. She replied: “Each minute I am struggling to not cry”. In 2013, Ms Shuliak complained that “for the whole week we didn’t have sex”.
Epstein also chided her for jealousy, writing: “Your concern over women is unnecessary. It is causing much of the stress between us. the first day we became together I told you please. there are always women around, if they will make you jealous or anxious, it will be a problem.”
Photographs from the files also show Ms Shuliak laughing as she dances with Epstein, on his private jet, and attending meetings with the Left-wing academic Noam Chomsky .
Pictures released in the Epstein files show the US financier had dentist’s chairs in at least two of his homes
According to the files, Epstein contacted an aide of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 2016 to request that Ms Shuliak and her friend be well cared for during a trip to London.
He wrote to David Stern, the director of the royal’s Pitch@Palace business: “I appreciate what you have planned thnx.” Mr Stern apparently responded: “My pleasure. I am always on your team!!”
Records show that Ms Shuliak studied at the Belarusian State Medical University from 2006 to 2010 before enrolling at Columbia’s College of Dental Medicine, graduating in 2015.
Epstein made donations and arranged meetings with the heads of the university’s dentistry department to smooth her path toward an externship and residency. Pictures released in the files have shown he had dental chairs in at least two of his homes.
Epstein’s future girlfriend initially refused ‘help’ he had offered, but they were together until he died in prison aged 66
Through Epstein’s connections, Ms Shuliak enlisted Arda Beskardes, a New York immigration lawyer, to secure her green card and eventually US citizenship. She recently attended a post-doctorate dental programme at Columbia, graduating last May.
According to reports, Ms Shuliak managed Epstein’s personal life with meticulous care, sending items including his preferred bathmat from his New Mexico ranch to his Paris apartment, and stocking his favourite foods and supplements.
In a 2012 email she told him: “I love you very much, you will always have me, no matter what, as long as it makes you happy.”
Epstein listed her as his emergency contact on medical forms, referring to her simply as a “friend”, and rewarded her loyalty by covering her expenses. From Jan to Nov 2014, she charged nearly $295,000 (about £217,000) in purchases to a single credit card.
In one exchange of messages, Epstein complains to Ms Shuliak of “not enough kisses, not enough time, not enough sex”
Epstein extended his support to Ms Shuliak’s parents in Belarus, sending them monthly payments of $20,000 to $25,000 and covering her mother’s breast cancer treatments.
Flight logs listed in the Department of Justice files show that Ms Shuliak accompanied Epstein on numerous trips and was even on board his final flight from Paris to New York in August 2019, when FBI agents met him on the tarmac and arrested him.
Their time together led Epstein to bequeath Ms Shuliak $100m, including a $50m annuity, along with much of his property portfolio, including his $27.5m New Mexico ranch, a $10m apartment in Paris, two private islands, and his New York townhouse, which sold for $51m.
Ms Shuliak has not received the full fortune Epstein left her: much of his estate was liquidated to fund a victims’ compensation programme, which has paid out $121m to settle claims. None of his beneficiaries will receive money until all compensation claims have been settled.
According to the most recent accounts, about $127m remains in the estate, leaving open the possibility of a substantial payout to his girlfriend, who still lives in the Manhattan apartment he described the property as the “apartment for models” in his black book of contacts.
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