Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem was named in the Epstein files after members of Congress reviewed unredacted Justice Department files released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Tuesday.
Lawmakers Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie said several names had been improperly redacted and disclosed six of them on the House floor, including bin Sulayem. CEO bin Sulayem, who has made his riches in the global logistics business, has an estimated net worth of between $7 and $8 billion.
Why It Matters
The DOJ recently published over 3 million pages of documents, thousands of images and videos from investigations related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail while facing sex trafficking charges in 2019.
While officials say it fulfills their obligation under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, debate continues over which information has been redacted, why and whether more releases will be necessary.
What To Know
Who is Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem?
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem is a prominent Emirati businessman and the chairman and CEO of DP World, the Dubai‑based global ports and logistics company.
Epstein sent an email on April 24, 2009, that said: “where are you? are you ok , I loved the torture video”
The recipient’s email address and name were originally redacted.
But Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the recipient was identified in the file EFTA00666117, which names “Sultan Bin Sulayem” while redacting the email address.
The nature of the “torture video” is not known.
They replied a day later to say: “I am in china I will be in the US 2nd week of may”
What is Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem’s Net Worth?
bin Sulayem’s net worth is estimated to be around $7–8 billion.
This is the best estimate given his four decades plus of leadership over DP World, real‑estate development and other investments.
In 2023, DP World recorded $18.3 billion in revenues and assets of $44.7 billion, according to Forbes.
DP World also created an expansion project at the Port of Callao in Peru for $400 million in June of 2024.
In addition, bin Sulayem owns luxury hotels on Dubai’s Palm Islands and also chaired the Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation in Dubai since the early 2000s.
What is DP World?
DP World is a Dubai‑based multinational logistics and port‑operations company that plays a major role in global trade.
DP World runs ports and moves cargo, operating container terminals, ports, logistics hubs, free‑trade zones, and supply‑chain services that help goods move from factories to consumers around the world.
The Dubai-headquartered company was founded in 2005 and employs roughly 100,000 workers globally.
What Other Businessmen Have Been Named in the Epstein Files?
The identities of other potential co- conspirator men originally redacted in the Epstein files were disclosed by Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, in a post on X on Tuesday, as Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, Nicola Caputo and billionaire businessman Leslie Wexner.
Khanna and Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, had claimed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was improperly keeping the information private.
“My question is, why did it take Thomas Massey and me going to the Justice Department to get these six men’s identities to become public?” Khanna said on the House floor. “And if we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files?”
When Were the Epstein Files Released?
The Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed by Congress and signed by Trump in November. The law forced the DOJ to publicly disclose investigative materials related to Epstein and his network, including travel logs, correspondence, records of investigations and prosecutions, and other government files.
Within 30 days of the law’s enactment, the attorney general was required to make all unclassified DOJ records associated with Epstein and related investigations publicly available in a searchable, downloadable format.
However, the DOJ did not fully meet the deadline. Names that were originally redacted in the files continue to be released as recently as this week.
What People Are Saying
Representative Thomas Massie told reporters: “There is no reason in our legislation that allows them to redact the names of those men, as far as I can tell. It’s a list of 20 individuals.…Maxwell and Epstein are on the list, and maybe one or two other people, and everybody else is redacted.”
Christina Bobb, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, in a recent podcast interview with journalist Caitlin Sinclair: “This is the rich and powerful with a lot of really, really bad information. Now, I don’t know that any of it is provable beyond a reasonable doubt at this point, and that the Department of Justice has come out and said, we can’t do anything with these documents, whatever. I don’t necessarily think that’s true either.”
What Happens Next
The DOJ continues to handle the Epstein case amid larger criticism of the way certain identities have been shielded in the release of the files to the public.
Bin Sulayem is one of several other well-known billionaires linked to the files.
