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The chief executive of Dubai-based logistics group DP World helped arrange for a Russian “masseuse” from Jeffrey Epstein’s “private spa” to train in Turkey at the convicted paedophile’s request, according to emails released by the US Department of Justice.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who helped build the state-backed company over four decades, had a close relationship with Epstein spanning many years, according to the latest tranche of documents released by the DoJ.
The documents released on Friday, including emails and text messages, detail the evolving relationship between the two men and their mutual contacts, including an attempt by Sulayem to recruit Lord Peter Mandelson, the former UK business secretary, to DP World’s board in 2014.
Previous releases by the DoJ had revealed Sulayem’s ties to Epstein but the latest documents show just how closely the men collaborated, long after Epstein had first been convicted of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008.
A 2010 reference from Epstein regarding a lease refers to Sulayem as his “close personal friend” whom the financier had known “for more than eight years”.
In 2017, a series of emails shows the two men arranging for Epstein’s “personal masseuse” to work at the spa at the Rixos hotel in Antalya, Turkey “so she gains better experiences”.
Epstein wrote on the same thread that he wanted the masseuse, who says she has a Russian passport, to “learn as much as she can. all treatments etc.”.
The request was sent by Sulayem to Fettah Tamince, the billionaire founder of Rixos Hotels and one of Turkey’s richest men, who said he would “make sure” it happened. Rixos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the 2022 trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was imprisoned for 20 years for her role in grooming girls as young as 14 for Epstein, many witnesses recounted how the paedophile financier would request sexualised “massages” at his various luxury properties. Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial in 2019.
The Russian masseuse responded in the 2017 email chain: “Thank you so much for your kindness! I m [sic] ready to go as soon as possible. And I am willing to commit to all time needed to get great.”
A copy of her passport is redacted in the DoJ files and her age is unknown.
The messages will be embarrassing for DP World, which has grown out of Dubai’s giant Jebel Ali port to make multibillion-dollar investments around the world, employing more than 100,000 people globally.
The Dubai government-owned company’s investments range from a £1bn expansion of the London Gateway port to various projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Other exchanges between Sulayem and Epstein raise further questions about their relationship.
In August 2015 Sulayem appears to have sent Epstein a link to a pornography site during a series of text messages between the two men discussing a visit to Santa Fe, where Epstein had a ranch nearby.
In another exchange of emails in 2016 Epstein wrote a short message to Sulayem that said “no girl in dubai is safe tonite [sic]”. The context of the message is not clear from the DoJ documents.
Other exchanges show the advice and assistance Epstein provided to Sulayem, including whether he should attend US President Donald Trump’s first inauguration in 2017.
Sulayem asked in one email whether it might be “possible to shake hand with trump [sic]”.
The DP World chief also apparently attempted to recruit Mandelson to join the board of one of his companies in 2014. At the time Mandelson was an active peer but also running his political advisory business, Global Counsel.
Epstein advised Mandelson in June 2014 that it would be a “good move”, writing that “sultan [sic] has asked me to encourage you to join his board”.
Mandelson said he agreed but worried there might be a “risk down road of it being brought down by over leveraged parent company”. Dubai World, the port operator’s parent company, was at the centre of the emirate’s debt crisis in 2009.
Epstein countered that it was a “dubai and expo related biz , awash in cash flow”. In 2021, Dubai hosted Expo 2020 in which DP World had a prominent pavilion in the global event delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mandelson told the FT he was “asked and turned it down”, and declined to comment further.
In a 2009 email Sulayem wrote to Mandelson when he was the UK business secretary, requesting either guarantees or loans to help finance the company’s London Gateway port project. Just beforehand, he wrote to Epstein saying: “Dear Jeffrey I am sending this to Peter in the next 20 mnts.”
Mandelson returned to frontline politics in 2024 after UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appointed him ambassador in Washington. But he was sacked last year following revelations about the depth of his relationship with Epstein, whom he described as his “best pal” in a message previously released by the DoJ.
Mandelson has said he was sorry for having believed Epstein and for continuing to be associated with him after his conviction.
DP World declined to comment.