Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem is the man seen in these photos from 2022, when Prince William traveled to Dubai on one of his rare “I’m a global statesman” trips. William met with ABS in person during the trip, as you can see. They were already in contact and friendly, because ABS was CEO of DP World, which is one of the founding partners of William’s Earthshot Prize. DP World donated $1 million (at least) to Earthshot, and in exchange, ABS gets face time with the heir to the British throne. Well, ABS has been well-connected in many circles for years. As it turns out, he was a close friend of Jeffrey Epstein. The two men were so friendly, ABS once sent Epstein a “torture video,” which Epstein “loved.” As ABS’s Epstein links became front and center in recent weeks, there’s not only been pressure on Ahmed Bin Sulayem, there’s also been pressure on Prince William and Earthshot. Earthshot has now been reported to the UK Charity Commission, and William is getting some very pointed criticism from the British press. Well, interesting news: Bin Sulayem has now resigned as CEO of DP World. Case closed!
Dubai port giant DP World said on Friday its chairman and chief executive Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem had resigned, an announcement that followed mounting pressure over his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Bin Sulayem, one of the Middle East’s most prominent business figures, is among the highest-profile executives to face scrutiny and be removed from senior roles following the recent release of the Epstein files.
Dubai’s ruler on Friday also issued a decree appointing a new chairman for Dubai’s Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, one of several roles previously held by Bin Sulayem.
Members of the U.S. Congress said Bin Sulayem’s name appeared in documents published by the U.S. Department of Justice, prompting renewed questions over his past interactions with Epstein, a convicted sex offender. Reuters was not able to independently verify the allegations in the files.
Pressure had been building on the Emirati logistics firm after two organisations, the UK development finance agency and Canada’s second-largest pension fund, said this week they would suspend all new investment with DP World over Bin Sulayem’s alleged Epstein ties.
On Friday the UK agency, British International Investment, welcomed DP World’s decision and said it looked forward to continuing “our partnership to advance the development of key African trading ports”.
Canada’s La Caisse said in a statement that “the company took the appropriate measures”. It said it would “move quickly to work with DP World’s new leadership to continue our partnership on port projects around the world”.
As of this writing, Earthshot has not issued any kind of statement and neither has Kensington Palace. It’s almost as if Earthshot and KP thought they didn’t have to take a hard line or any kind of public stance on ABS, which is a bizarre way to do business. As you can see from the Reuters story, British International Investment and La Caisse were both taking strong public positions that DP World needed to answer for ABS’s links to/friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. They were exerting public pressure, trying to get this result. Prince William was fine with saying nothing as a founding partner and major donor to Earthshot appeared all over the Epstein Files. Doesn’t say much about William’s management skills, nor does it say much about how Earthshot operates.
PS… The Sunday Times had a big story this weekend about William’s close ties to ABS. I will cover it separately on Monday, but it’s enlightening to see that William has his own secondhand “Epstein ties” as well.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
