New York: Spotlights have turned on a 37-year-old dentist from Belarus, Dr Karyna Shuliak as she may inherit Jeffery Epstein’s assets worth to $100 million, if reports are to be believed.
She has spent nearly eight years as Epstein’s girlfriend. According to reports, she was also the last person he spoke to on the phone before he died in his jail cell in 2019, the New York Times reported.
She will also inherit a 33-carat diamond ring.
In late January, when the Justice Department released three million pages of files and emails gathered during its investigation into Epstein, there were thousands of private messages between Shuliak and Epstein, and dozens of photographs that were a testimony to their relationship.
Who Is Karyna Shuliak?
According to the Times’ review of the files, Shuliak is as an unusual figure within Epstein’s circle. According to reports, she has never described herself as one of his victims.
Under the terms of his will, she will inherit the assets. From the emails, it appeared to be a relationship built on money, dependence and control, reported NDTV.
Epstein called her his “favourite.” It has also been reported that Epstein often told her that he loved her.
The emails exchanged between the two show disagreements over sex, orders with a sexual wellness company aimed at couples, and occasionally, links to explicit videos.
Over time, she took on real responsibility in his world. She helped him to manage his properties and staff. But Epstein held the power in the relationship throughout, the Times report claims.
Their chance meeting
Shuliak had lived in New York for only nine months when she met Epstein in late March 2011. Back then, he was 58 years old. She had arrived from Belarus on a temporary student visa to study English. She worked as a dental assistant for around $15 an hour while applying for waitressing jobs.
According to the files, a young woman from Siberia introduced them, NDTV reported.
Buying A Place At Columbia
Shuliak had wanted to be a dentist and had completed four of the five years of dental training in Minsk before moving to New York. In 2012, she had agreed to let Epstein help her get into dental school, the report states. When Columbia College of Dental Medicine initially turned her down, Epstein reached out to his own dentist and asked him to put him in touch with the dean. Epstein floated the idea of donating up to $10 million to the university, the report claims. Records show, as cited in the report, show he has given around $210,000.
Such was their bond that when she was once admitted, Epstein flew her mother in from Belarus for a visit and paid her tuition fees for the next three years. “You are the purest man out ofl men,” she wrote to him in 2012.
The relationship had problems also as the pair reportedly clashed over Epstein’s insistence on sleeping with other women.
By the time she applied to Columbia in 2012, Shuliak had already overstayed the student visa that was given to her in 2010. In 2013, Epstein worked out a way to keep her in the country. According to the report, he picked one of his own assistants, a 30-year-old woman from Minnesota, to be the bride for Shuliak as that was the easiest way to get Visa in the country.
The two women married three weeks later at the Office of the City Clerk. There were photographs taken to mark the day.
Later, an immigration lawyer working for Epstein filed paperwork naming Shuliak as the woman’s wife and her Visa request was approved. Her pending deportation case was dropped, the report claims. Months later, she received a green card, the report states.
In May 2018, Shuliak became a US citizen and the couple divorced a year later.
