The Belarusian woman appears thousands of times in the newly released Epstein archives, of which she was both a partner and administrator. The convicted sex offender wanted to bequeath her large portions of his fortune.

Two days before taking his own life in his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York, Jeffrey Epstein was thinking about what would happen next. On August 8, 2019, the convicted sex offender laid out all the details of his estate in a will: the primary beneficiary was none other than Karyna Shuliak, 36, his last partner, whom he had planned to marry, according to the document titled "1953 Trust," revealed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Two days before taking his own life in his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York, Jeffrey Epstein was thinking about what would happen next. On August 8, 2019, the convicted sex offender laid out all the details of his estate in a will: the primary beneficiary was none other than Karyna Shuliak, 36, his last partner, whom he had planned to marry, according to the document titled "1953 Trust," revealed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

$100 million, including an immediate annuity of $50 million, but also a slew of real estate: his Manhattan mansion, his Parisian apartment at 22 Avenue Foch, two private islands and the infamous Little Saint James, his ranch in New Mexico… As well as 48 diamonds and a 32.73-carat ring, acquired for $1.2 million: his gift from a wedding that will never take place.

By comparison, his longtime partner and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was only due to receive $10 million. However, to date, no beneficiary of Epstein's fortune, estimated at over $500 million, has received any money, as the American justice system has blocked the probate process in order to compensate the victims.

"Stayed until the end"

According to the New York Times, Karyna Shuliak was the last person Epstein called before committing suicide in his cell. The ties between the billionaire sex offender and this Belarusian woman are long-standing. Shuliak reportedly first arrived in the United States in 2009, just 20 years old. She quickly became part of the financier's inner circle, who had just been sentenced to his first prison term.

The young woman caught the predator's eye, whose recruiters were fond of young women from Eastern Europe. Very quickly, she demonstrated unwavering loyalty to him. "After his release from prison, everyone abandoned him and called him the Antichrist, even his closest friends. No one stayed by his side, except for Karyna, who remained until the very end," a close friend told the Daily Mail in 2020.

To keep the young woman close to him, Epstein financed her dental studies at the prestigious Columbia University, as well as her family's move to the United States. Medical care for her mother was also reportedly paid for by the convicted sex offender. Leveraging his connections within high society, he facilitated her obtaining a US residency permit in 2010 and then, eight years later, American citizenship, according to our colleagues at Libération.

Administrator

Karyna Shuliak's name appears 45,000 times in the millions of new documents released last week by the US Department of Justice. And for good reason: the Belarusian woman in her thirties seems to have played a key role in the workings of the perverse system built by Epstein. She was, quite simply, its principal administrator, managing her lover's schedule and relationships with the numerous influential figures he associated with.

The young Slavic woman was even nicknamed "The Inspector" for her tendency to obsessively monitor her husband's activities. "She was insanely jealous of Epstein and constantly investigated his acquaintances," a close friend told the Daily Mail. But the young woman could also appear shy. Writer Michael Wolff, in a podcast with The Daily Beast, stated that she remained "completely silent" during their interview.

Shuliak appears to have been a frequent passenger on the "Lolita Express," Epstein's infamous private jet, dubbed as such by the tabloids, where she was photographed on several occasions. Very close to the disgraced financier, she was by his side when he was arrested upon landing of the Paris-New York flight on July 6, 2019. According to the New York Times, she still resides in the American city.

Throughout their relationship, which reportedly lasted about a decade, Shuliak was married to Jennifer Kalin, another woman in Epstein's circle, according to The Independent. The British newspaper reports that this marriage was a sham, a tactic regularly used by the billionaire to facilitate access to American citizenship for the often foreign young women he associated with.

Karyna Shuliak, in any case, seems to have been the one who truly won Jeffrey Epstein over. "I love you very much, you will always have me, no matter what, as long as it makes you happy," she wrote to him in 2012. And she added, in another letter to the sexual predator: "No matter the noise around, you are the purest man I have ever known."