On Friday, Jan. 30, the US Department of Justice released its latest batch of “Epstein files” under the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed into law last November. Within the trove of 3.5 million pages, an e-mail exchange shows multiple invitations for Jeffery Epstein to attend a “high-level retreat” in the UAE featuring notable Arab politicians and diplomats, among others.
On Oct. 1, 2010, Jeffrey Epstein received an email from an unknown sender inviting him to a Sir Bani Yas conference, writing “jeffrey , please come. you may have private time with each . you security clearance is approved.”
In November of the same year, the UAE and the International Peace Institute (IPI) was intending to convene the inaugural Sir Bin Yas Forum running from the 5–8 of the month. The annual forum claims to “create an exclusive and private atmosphere for action-oriented discussions among policy- and opinion-makers about critical issues in advancing peace and security in the Middle East.”
The list of attendees included former Egyptian FM and incumbent Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit, then-Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, UAE deputy prime minister and foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, then-Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.
List of invitees in an email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell regarding the Sir Bin Yas Forum held in the UAE, Oct. 24, 2010. On the same day, Epstein forwarded the email to former Barclay’s bank CEO and Epstein’s personal banker Jes Staley with the subject “this is nuts.” Staley responded with brevity: “That’s amazing.”
Epstein also forwarded the exchange to his lifelong co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation Tom Pritzker , and the science adviser for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Boris Nikolic .
By Oct. 24, 2010, Epstein received a similar email, with more high-level names added onto the list of forum invitees. The conference would now include then-Secretary General of the Arab League, and international adviser to IPI Amre Moussa, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian FM Nasser Judeh, and former British PM Tony Blair as a representative of the Quartet .
The current release concludes an exhaustive procedure of identifying and reviewing documents, declared US deputy attorney general Todd Blanche. He noted that the Department undertook an “unprecedented and extensive effort” to achieve this, aiming “to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act.”
The emails place Epstein in proximity to senior Arab political figures at a time when he was expanding his footprint in the Middle East. The prominence of the invitee lists highlights how he intersected with high-level regional diplomacy, raising renewed questions about access, vetting, and influence long before his criminal conduct became public.
