The Belarusian woman at the center of Epstein’s final days
A collage shows printed documents available at the Epstein Library on the U.S. Department of Justice website alongside Karyna Shuliak, seen in New York, U.S. on May 30, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images; MEGA / GC Images; Collage by The Kyiv Independent)
The U.S. Department of Justice on Jan. 30 published over 3 million documents in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The publication of the Epstein files unearths corruption and human trafficking in countries across the globe. In Belarus, the story had another twist.
The files flesh out Epstein's personal connection to Belarus through 36-year-old Belarusian national Karyna Shuliak. According to the New York Times, Shuliak was the last person Epstein talked to outside prison before committing suicide.
Email exchanges and wire transfers over 10 years document travel arrangements, funding for Shuliak's family, and support for her dentistry studies in the United States. One document, known as The 1953 Trust, bequeaths the largest share of Epstein's wealth to the woman.
According to the will, executed and signed by Epstein on Aug. 8, 2019 — two days before his death — Shuliak would receive $50 million, the infamous properties on Epstein's Little and Great Saint James islands, the Zorro ranch in New Mexico, his townhouse in New York, and an apartment in central Paris.
Shuliak also inherited Epstein's collection of 48 loose diamonds, along with a near-33-carat diamond ring, given to her "in contemplation of marriage."
Formerly a student at the Belarusian State Medical University, Shuliak arrived in the United States in 2009 when she was in her 20s, and soon met Epstein. She reportedly continued her education at Teachers' College, Columbia University, and obtained a U.S. dental license with Epstein's support.
In May 2015, Epstein wrote to Cecile de Jong, the wife of the then-governor of the Virgin Islands, inquiring about licensing, which Shuliak was later granted.
In her questionnaire with the U.S. immigration authorities, Shuliak stated that she feared for her personal safety due to the "dictatorial regime in Belarus," Belarusian Service of RFE/RL found in the published files.
Shuliak shared her answers with Epstein, asking him if she had provided the right answers.
The UK tabloid The Daily Mail alleged that Shuliak was also involved in a sham marriage with Epstein associate Jennifer Kalin, a U.S. citizen, to ensure she could remain in the United States.
The record of marriage registration appears in the Belarusian database, according to Belpol. The newly published files contain Shuliak's petition for divorce filed in November 2018.
Epstein was also providing funds to Shuliak's parents.
Between 2013 and 2016, Shuliak's parents received at least $80,000. The first portion of documents, published in December, showed two transfers to Minsk in 2013 totaling $30,000.
At the time, the recipient's name was redacted, but the newly released files reveal the name — Fedor Chouliak (Fedor Shuliak) — whose bank details Karyna Shuliak shared with Epstein, saying Fedor was her father. The newly published documents contain at least two more previously unknown transactions: $25,000 was wired to Fedor Shulyak in 2014 at Epstein's request. Karyna Shuliak transferred another $25,000 to her parents in 2016, informing Epstein of this via email and attaching a copy of the wire transfer confirmation.
The funds may have been used for a real estate purchase, according to Belarusian government databases obtained by Belpol, an opposition group of former Belarusian law enforcement officials. The state registers indicate that Fedor Shuliak, an entrepreneur, purchased an apartment in Drazdy, a posh Minsk suburb known for housing Belarusian celebrities and officials.
In the newly released files, Epstein also instructs his accountant, Richard Kahn, to wire $15,000 to Karyna's mother in January 2013. In late 2015, Epstein mentioned the need for a follow-up doctor's appointment for Shuliak's mother in an email to Eva Dubin, his former girlfriend, and a physician specializing in breast cancer.
Shuliak's parents also met Epstein personally, making trips to the United States in 2012 and 2017, and one in 2019 — less than a month before Epstein's arrest. Email exchanges in the Epstein files include travel itineraries and Epstein's directing assistants to pick up Shuliak's parents at the airport. The financier himself obtained a Belarusian visa, but never traveled to the country, according to Belpol.
The official passenger traffic system with details of every individual — foreign or native to Belarus — that ever passed Belarus' state border shows no record of his travel.
"The only way Epstein could have arrived to Belarus without producing a record of it in the passenger traffic system is by flying to Russia and travelling to Belarus from there by car or train, which is odd for an individual with plenty of resources and personal jets," says Uldzimir Zhyhar, the representative of Belpol, the group of exiled Belarusian law enforcers which possesses all Belarusian government records up until 2021.
In the latest batch of revelations, Belarus and Minsk are featured with about 1,500 and 1,000 mentions, respectively. Karyna Shuliak is mentioned 40,000 times.
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