Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the chief executive of Dubai-based DP World, has resigned over his involvement with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
At the helm of one of the world’s largest logistics companies since 2019, Bin Sulayem moved across some of the most powerful business and political circles globally, with regular appearances at the World Economic Forum in Davos. His departure follows the resignation of Goldman Sachs Group’s top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler, which brought to an end a months-long scandal over her association with Epstein.
Bin Sulayem, who was also the chairman of DP World, kept up a relationship with the convicted paedophile before and for more than a decade after Epstein’s jail sentence in 2008 on charges that included procuring a minor for prostitution. The relationship emerged in a series of emails released by the US department of justice and others obtained by Bloomberg News last year.
Bin Sulayem’s resignation, announced in a regulatory statement on Friday, is particularly unusual in a region where high-profile executives rarely relinquish their posts amid public controversy.
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The emails between Bin Sulayem and Epstein show the two men exchanged intimate messages, contacts in business and politics, and attempted to broker deals for one another.
Neither Bin Sulayem nor representatives for DP World previously responded to repeated requests for comment over the email exchanges.
Following Bin Sulayem’s resignation, the company named Yuvraj Narayan as the new chief executive officer and Essa Kazim as chairman.
Bin Sulayem, a Dubai businessman educated at Temple University in Philadelphia, served in numerous government-linked roles in the emirate over the last two decades. He was one of the many executives who lost their jobs in the aftermath of the global financial crisis when Dubai neared default over its ability to repay property-related debt.
In a previous high-profile role, bin Sulayem headed real estate developer Nakheel PJSC, the builder of Dubai’s famed palm-shaped islands. Bin Sulayem’s own property empire encompasses luxury hotels, including Dukes hotel in London’s Mayfair district, as well as a 5-star resort in Dubai. – Bloomberg
