Epstein married Belarusian girlfriend to his female assistant to keep her in the US
Jeffrey Epstein and Karina Shuliak / www.nytimes.com
To legalize his Belarusian girlfriend in the US, Jeffrey Epstein married her to his assistant. When Karina Shuliak overstayed her student visa in 2012, the financier found an unconventional solution.
New York was one of the first states to legalize same-sex marriage. Epstein concluded that a marriage in New York between two women could be the simplest way to obtain US citizenship — while avoiding suspicion that it had been arranged solely to prevent deportation.
He then selected a 30-year-old woman from Minnesota from among his assistants. She played the role of Karina Shuliak's wife. The marriage took place in 2013, reports the NYT.
The young woman remained in the United States, enrolled at Columbia University, and trained as a dentist.
On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking of minors. This occurred when he returned to the US from Paris, where he had been spending time with Shuliak.
She remained in Europe. But she later returned to the US and worked as a dentist in Brooklyn.
The Belarusian woman is referred to as Epstein's heir. However, his assets are currently frozen and being used to compensate his victims.
Epstein's primary heir
According to Jeffrey Epstein's will, his companion from Belarus, Karina Shuliak, was set to become a millionaire. In addition to $100 million, she was to receive his Manhattan townhouse, a Paris apartment, islands, a ranch, and a 32-carat ring.
However, the 36-year-old woman, who now lives in New York, will not see a single cent. The reason is that American and French authorities decided to freeze Epstein's funds and assets in order to transfer them to a compensation fund for his victims.
Shuliak spent 10 years alongside Epstein, making her way from a medical university student in Minsk to the lover and manager of the influential financier. She was the last person to speak with him by phone shortly before his suicide in prison on August 10, 2019.
Epstein arranged her move to the US and her studies at Columbia University (which required making a "donation" of $100,000 to a dean). He proposed that Shuliak enter into a sham marriage so that she could obtain American citizenship.
The Belarusian woman's name is mentioned in the "Epstein files" 40,144 times.
