Jeffrey Epstein Tried to Leave $100 Million to a Belarusian Dentist Named Karyna Shulyak: Who Is She?
The release of files related to financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has revealed not only the names of his associates, but also those of the beneficiaries of his estate. A trust agreement drafted by Epstein two days before his death identifies Karyna Shulyak, a dentist from Belarus, as his intended main heir. She is the woman Epstein planned to marry and the last person he spoke to before he died. Epstein left her tens of millions of dollars in inheritance. However, it remains unclear whether she ever received the money—or if she ever will.
Two days before his death, Epstein drafted a document listing his heirs
The latest and largest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files, released by the U.S. Department of Justice on January 30, included a trust agreement that functioned as the financier’s will. In the 32-page document, drafted two days before his death, Epstein specified who would inherit his fortune.
Epstein was found dead on August 10, 2019, in a New York jail cell where he was being held on charges of sex trafficking, including the trafficking of minors. His death was officially ruled a suicide, although conspiracy theories surrounding the incident persist.
In 2019, Epstein’s net worth was estimated at nearly $600 million. In court documents from 2025, that valuation dropped to $127 million. However, in his will, the financier allocated $288 million and several real estate properties, according to ABC News, which reviewed the document.
According to Epstein’s wishes, his estate was to be divided among around 40 beneficiaries. These included his brother Mark; his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell (currently serving a 20-year sentence for “recruiting” minors to have sex with Epstein and his influential friends); and former employees such as his personal pilot, Larry Visoski. Some beneficiaries’ names in the document are redacted.
Under the trust agreement, Ghislaine Maxwell and Mark Epstein were each to inherit $10 million. Accountant Richard Kahn and lawyer Darren Indyke—who signed the agreement and served as executors—were to receive $25 million and $50 million, respectively. But Epstein’s primary heir was identified as Karyna Shulyak—the woman the financier intended to marry, according to the agreement. She was to receive $100 million—half as a lump sum and the other half in a trust providing monthly payments for life—as well as 48 diamonds, Epstein’s diamond ring, and his real estate holdings, including apartments in Paris and New York, a ranch in New Mexico, and Little St. James, Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean where he hosted parties.
Epstein’s main heir, Karyna Shulyak, is from Belarus
Karyna Shulyak’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein first emerged in the spring of 2020, when the New York Daily News reported that she was the last person Epstein spoke to before his death. According to The New York Times, he called her on the night of August 9, 2019. The call lasted 15 minutes and was not recorded. When a guard asked whom he had called, Epstein replied that it was his mother (who had died in 2004). After the call, he returned to his cell, where he was found hanging the following morning.
Karyna Shulyak is from Belarus. She grew up in Minsk, where friends remember her as a shy and modest girl who studied dance, according to the Daily Mail. After finishing high school, Shulyak enrolled at the Belarusian State Medical University, according to Zerkalo. In 2009, at age 20, she traveled to the United States for the first time through the “Work and Travel” program, which allows foreign students to spend the summer working and traveling in the U.S. Reports suggest she met Epstein that year or the following one.
They met shortly after Epstein’s conviction as a sex offender. At that time, almost everyone had distanced themselves from him except Shulyak, an anonymous source told the Daily Mail in 2020. According to the source, Shulyak is a “very sincere, kind, and decent person,” and she stayed with Epstein not for money, but because she was “madly in love with him.”
Epstein paid for Shulyak’s dental studies at Columbia University (the specialty she had pursued in Belarus) and helped her obtain a work license, although she ultimately never practiced as a dentist. He also financed expensive medical treatments for Shulyak’s mother in the United States, according to the Daily Mail source. As Belarusian journalists discovered, in the mid-2010s Epstein repeatedly applied for visas to Belarus but never visited. However, he reportedly bought an apartment in Minsk, transferred at least $100,000 to Shulyak’s parents, and hosted them several times in the United States. In return, they sent him holiday cards.
The release of files related to financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has revealed not only the names of his associates, but also those of the beneficiaries of his estate. A trust agreement drafted by Epstein two days before his death identifies Karyna Shulyak, a dentist from Belarus, as his intended main heir. She is the woman Epstein planned to marry and the last person he spoke to before he died. Epstein left her tens of millions of dollars in inheritance. However, it remains unclear whether she ever received the money—or if she ever will.
Two days before his death, Epstein drafted a document listing his heirs
The latest and largest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files, released by the U.S. Department of Justice on January 30, included a trust agreement that functioned as the financier’s will. In the 32-page document, drafted two days before his death, Epstein specified who would inherit his fortune.
Epstein was found dead on August 10, 2019, in a New York jail cell where he was being held on charges of sex trafficking, including the trafficking of minors. His death was officially ruled a suicide, although conspiracy theories surrounding the incident persist.
In 2019, Epstein’s net worth was estimated at nearly $600 million. In court documents from 2025, that valuation dropped to $127 million. However, in his will, the financier allocated $288 million and several real estate properties, according to ABC News, which reviewed the document.
According to Epstein’s wishes, his estate was to be divided among around 40 beneficiaries. These included his brother Mark; his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell (currently serving a 20-year sentence for “recruiting” minors to have sex with Epstein and his influential friends); and former employees such as his personal pilot, Larry Visoski. Some beneficiaries’ names in the document are redacted.
Under the trust agreement, Ghislaine Maxwell and Mark Epstein were each to inherit $10 million. Accountant Richard Kahn and lawyer Darren Indyke—who signed the agreement and served as executors—were to receive $25 million and $50 million, respectively. But Epstein’s primary heir was identified as Karyna Shulyak—the woman the financier intended to marry, according to the agreement. She was to receive $100 million—half as a lump sum and the other half in a trust providing monthly payments for life—as well as 48 diamonds, Epstein’s diamond ring, and his real estate holdings, including apartments in Paris and New York, a ranch in New Mexico, and Little St. James, Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean where he hosted parties.
Epstein’s main heir, Karyna Shulyak, is from Belarus
Karyna Shulyak’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein first emerged in the spring of 2020, when the New York Daily News reported that she was the last person Epstein spoke to before his death. According to The New York Times, he called her on the night of August 9, 2019. The call lasted 15 minutes and was not recorded. When a guard asked whom he had called, Epstein replied that it was his mother (who had died in 2004). After the call, he returned to his cell, where he was found hanging the following morning.
Karyna Shulyak is from Belarus. She grew up in Minsk, where friends remember her as a shy and modest girl who studied dance, according to the Daily Mail. After finishing high school, Shulyak enrolled at the Belarusian State Medical University, according to Zerkalo. In 2009, at age 20, she traveled to the United States for the first time through the “Work and Travel” program, which allows foreign students to spend the summer working and traveling in the U.S. Reports suggest she met Epstein that year or the following one.
They met shortly after Epstein’s conviction as a sex offender. At that time, almost everyone had distanced themselves from him except Shulyak, an anonymous source told the Daily Mail in 2020. According to the source, Shulyak is a “very sincere, kind, and decent person,” and she stayed with Epstein not for money, but because she was “madly in love with him.”
Epstein paid for Shulyak’s dental studies at Columbia University (the specialty she had pursued in Belarus) and helped her obtain a work license, although she ultimately never practiced as a dentist. He also financed expensive medical treatments for Shulyak’s mother in the United States, according to the Daily Mail source. As Belarusian journalists discovered, in the mid-2010s Epstein repeatedly applied for visas to Belarus but never visited. However, he reportedly bought an apartment in Minsk, transferred at least $100,000 to Shulyak’s parents, and hosted them several times in the United States. In return, they sent him holiday cards.
Last edited:
