An Emirati executive with ties to Prince William has stepped down as chairman of a multi-billion-dollar logistics company following revelations of his close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement, the Dubai government announced new leadership for the state-backed global ports operator DP World in light of Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem’s exit, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The latest tranche of Epstein-related documents released by the Justice Department revealed that Bin Sulayem and Epstein had been in contact for years, and that the sultan had visited the disgraced financier’s private island, Little St. James, where many of Epstein’s sexual crimes took place.
The pair’s email exchanges included videos and links to porn websites and sex worker services. In one 2009 exchange, Epstein wrote to Bin Sulayem, who is married with children, “I loved the torture video.”
The recipient is redacted in the DOJ’s file, but Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna identified Bin Sulayem as the “torture video” sender and released his name Monday, Massie wrote in a post on X.
In 2016, Epstein bought a second private island in the Caribbean using Bin Sulayem to hide his identity after the owner didn’t want to sell to Epstein. The Dubai businessman denied knowing he had been used as a shield, according to the Journal.
The revelation that Bin Sulayem was connected to Epstein has been deeply uncomfortable for Prince William, whose environmental-focused Earthshot Prize charity was founded in 2020 with a contribution from DP World.
The ports operator has donated at least $1.3 million to Earthshot, and Prince William has been seen on multiple occasions with Bin Sulayem, according to the anti-monarchy Republic, which said in a press release that it had filed a formal complaint with the U.K. Charity Commission.
Photos show the royal touring DP World London Gateway with Bin Sulayem in 2016, and Jebel Port in Dubai in 2022.
They can also be seen socializing at the Earthshot Prize Innovation Showcase at the Dubai Expo 2020, which was held in partnership with DP World in February 2022.
Following the complaint, the Charity Commission said it was assessing concerns about the Earthshot Prize’s funding, The Times of London reported.
The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives for Kensington Palace and the Earthshot Prize for comment.
The new scandal comes as Prince William and Kate Middleton finally addressed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein, who died in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The former Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal titles and booted from his grand estate in Windsor Great Park over his long friendship with Epstein. The files also show that during his decade as a U.K. trade envoy, Andrew repeatedly shared confidential government documents with Epstein, including material related to a business opportunity in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.
“I can confirm that the prince and princess have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said this week. “Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”
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