A Russian businessman and former politician was found dead in a luxury Moscow apartment on Monday morning, just weeks after his name appeared in the Epstein files.
Police found Umar Dzhabrailov, a businessman and former senator, lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to his head around 3 a.m., Russian outlet Kommersant reported.
Dzhabrailov, 67, was found with a Luger pistol near his body, and police sources called the incident a suspected suicide. Sources said he did not leave a note, but had recorded several video comments about the events in Iran shortly before his death.
The former Chechen representative to the Federation Council of Russia sent an email to convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in May 2001, as seen in a government file.
“Dear Ghislaine, I’m back from London, planing 2 B in Moscow. Really want 2 C U, but I need 2 know exactly when U arive, cause I want 2 take care of U and arrange welcoming things,” Dzhabrailov said. “Wishing U all the best! Umar.”
Maxwell replied the next day, saying: “Umar Sorry that we did not come last week. Got side tracked and ended up in France. However we Jeffrey Tom and I are coming next week arriving Fri. Will you be around and can we get together? Let me know Hope you are well”
Dzhabrailov, who ran for president against Vladimir Putin in 2000 but won only 0.1 percent of the vote, was also a friend of disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is serving a 50-month sentence for transportation to engage in prostitution.
He said he became friends with Combs, as well as billionaire artists Beyoncé and Jay-Z, at the Cannes Film Festival, according to a Telegram post. Dzhabrailov claimed he knew nothing about Combs’ illicit activities.
“As it happened, my yacht was docked next to theirs. We became friends and later began attending various events together,” an AI translation of his post reads. “There were no ‘oil parties’ or any other shady stuff.”
The businessman once owned the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel & Business Center in Moscow and operated a company that oversaw Russian shopping centers.
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