The Epstein Story with Dr. Shuliac
Investigative journalism is the most difficult form of reporting to practice, yet the most rewarding for readers. Researchers Matthew Goldstein and Sharon Otterman of The New York Times authored the following report, adapted as follows:
Dentist Karina Schulyak was a friend of the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and was the last person he spoke with before his suicide in his cell in 2019. According to official records, she inherited approximately $100 million from him through his will. However, her subsequent attempts to build a normal life were shattered as soon as the U.S. Department of Justice released three million pages of investigation files and emails it had compiled on Epstein, including thousands of intimate emails between her and him, along with dozens of photographs, which exposed their relationship, which had lasted nearly eight years.
A review of Epstein’s files reveals that Schulyak, 37, was a complex and unfamiliar figure in Epstein’s raucous sexual world. Born in Belarus, she met him when she was not yet 21 years old and did not participate in any of his criminal activities. Epstein had previously described her as his “favorite,” told her he loved her, spent lavishly on her, traveled with her around the world, assisted her parents, and eventually allowed her to manage his properties and even his staff. The emails between them show how he helped her realize her life’s dream of studying dentistry at Columbia University, and how he also helped her obtain U.S. citizenship by arranging her marriage to one of his American female employees. After their lawyer advised that the fastest “path to a green card” was to marry a woman of the same sex, they proceeded with the marriage and later divorced once the purpose had been served.
Schulyak’s initial entry into the United States was on a temporary student visa to study the language. She earned $15 an hour as a dental assistant, worked as a waitress, and sought to complete her education, but faced significant difficulties. Her life changed after she was introduced to Epstein by one of his friends, to perform massages with a sexual nature. Initially, she rejected his offer to assist him, given that he had been accused of soliciting a minor for prostitution and of assaulting dozens of other teenage girls.
By 2012, with Epstein’s illegal assistance, she was admitted to dental school. Epstein used his influence with professors at Columbia University, who were subsequently fired after the files were made public.
Schulyak and Epstein had sharp disagreements due to his insistence on maintaining relationships with other women, but she eventually acquiesced, justifying it by saying she “understood his needs,” as long as it was kept out of her sight. The two traveled to Paris, and on July 6, 2019, Epstein returned to the United States. When his plane landed, federal agents were waiting for him and arrested him. About a month after his arrest, during a 20-minute phone call from a jail in Lower Manhattan, Epstein told Dr. Schulyak that the federal sex trafficking charges would take longer than he had expected, and advised her to find another place to stay temporarily.
On the morning of August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead by suicide in his cell.
Ahmed Al-Sarraff
