The chairman and chief executive of Dubai-based logistics giant DP World maintained a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and exchanged emails containing explicit references to sexual encounters, according to documents released by the US Department of Justice. The disclosures have drawn renewed attention to Epstein’s extensive network of powerful contacts who remained in touch with him long after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
The emails show that Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, one of Dubai’s most prominent business figures, continued corresponding with Epstein for years, discussing women he appeared to have had sexual relationships with and, in some cases, sending images as attachments. In one exchange from June 2013, Sulayem sent Epstein detailed personal information about a woman he said he had met in Paris and asked for Epstein’s opinion. Epstein responded with a flippant remark, according to the documents. Several images were apparently attached to the message, though their content was not included in the material released by US authorities.
Other emails from the same period include Sulayem making crude remarks about sexual encounters and travel plans, as well as commentary on women he described as arriving from different countries. In subsequent correspondence, Epstein and Sulayem continued to exchange messages with a sexual tone, including discussions of escorts and massage services. In one instance in 2017, Epstein sent Sulayem a link to a website advertising escorts in Italy, to which Sulayem responded enthusiastically.
The correspondence also suggests Sulayem shared information about prostitution services while travelling abroad, including sending what appears to be a price list for sexual services during a trip to Tokyo in late 2013. The emails indicate that the two men remained in contact until less than a year before Epstein’s death by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.
Sulayem has been chairman of DP World since 2007 and its group chief executive since 2016. The company operates ports and logistics infrastructure around the world and is well known in Britain for its acquisition of P&O Ferries in 2019. He is among several high-profile figures named in the newly unsealed Justice Department files as having maintained long-running relationships with Epstein after his conviction.
Additional reporting has linked Sulayem to efforts to assist Epstein with business and personal requests, including helping arrange for a Russian masseuse connected to Epstein to train at a hotel in Turkey. DP World declined to comment on the contents of the emails or the revelations contained in the US court documents.
