Prince William’s Earthshot donor was Epstein friend, shared ‘torture video’
Like his father, King Charles, Prince William can’t escape the dark stain that has been spreading over those in the global elite who are even remotely associated with Jeffrey Epstein.
William has already been grappling with the ongoing fallout from his Uncle Andrew’s scandalous friendship with the notoriously well-connected Epstein. But now, the heir to the throne must deal with another scandal involving his personal and philanthropic ties to an Emirati logistics company executive, who likewise enjoyed a close relationship with the late sex offender.
That executive is Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who until this week was the chairman and chief executive of DP World, Dubai’s port operator. In addition, Bin Sulayem, who resigned from DP World after news broke about his Epstein ties, is the “founding parter” of William’s Earthshot Prize environmental nonprofit, the anti-monarchy organization Republic reported Wednesday.
Bin Sulayem had been in contact with the disgraced financier for years, visiting his infamous private island in the Caribbean, where sex crimes allegedly occurred, and exchanging videos and links to porn sites and sex worker services, the Daily Beast reported, citing emails in the so-called Epstein files that have recently been released by the Justice Department.
According to one 2009 exchange, Epstein had apparently received a video from Bin Sulayem, while the pedophile was still serving an 18-month, work-release sentence in Florida, following his conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Epstein emailed Sulayem in response: “Where are you? are you ok, I loved the torture video.”
In the original DOJ release, Bin Sulayem’s name was redacted as the recipient of Epstein’s email, but Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie identified Bin Sulayem as the “torture video” sender and released his name Monday, Massie wrote in a post on X.
For William, this news about Bin Sulayem represents another instance in which the specter of Epstein could potentially tarnish an institution, along with the British monarchy, that he helps lead. Britain’s Charity Commission confirmed to the Times of London that it is investigating the funding of the Earthshot Prize after Republic filed a report, saying that Bin Sulayem’s DP World had donated at least $1.3 million to help William establish the organization in 2020.
Republic also said that William has been seen on multiple occasions with Bin Sulayem and raised concerns about him using taxpayer dollars to visit the United Arab Emirates to promote his “pet project.” Republican added: “Earthshot has a duty to do due diligence, to ask questions about donors and where money is coming from. Did they do that here? If so did William over rule their better judgement?”
This new scandal involving Earthshot comes after William and Kate Middleton finally addressed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein, who died in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
“I can confirm that the prince and princess have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said this week. “Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”
The former Prince Andrew was stripped of his prince and Duke of York titles and evicted from his 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park, following years of increasingly damaging revelations about his friendship with Epstein. More recently, the DOJ files show that during his decade as a U.K. trade envoy, Andrew shared confidential government documents with Epstein, including material related to business opportunities in Southast Asia and Afghanistan. U.K. police have confirmed they are looking into whether an investigation is warranted into Andrew sharing government information with his friend.