21 Things You Should Know About Karyna Shuliak, Epstein’s Girlfriend Who Dethroned Ghislaine Maxwell With Her Will

Epstein is dead. Maxwell is in prison. Many victims are still seeking justice. Meanwhile, the woman who replaced Maxwell as the primary beneficiary of his estate recently graduated from Columbia Dental School and has not spoken publicly.

Karyna Shuliak is not a name most people knew before 2026. He was not named in the civil proceedings. He existed on the margins of Epstein’s story, mentioned occasionally when reporting on his will and then quickly forgotten.

But he is arguably the most important person in Jeffrey Epstein’s life who flies under the radar. His name appears 40,144 times in DOJ documents. He managed his estates, coordinated his workers, and traveled to his islands while his smuggling network was still active. He should have received more money than Ghislaine Maxwell in his will. When he made his last phone call from a Manhattan jail, he told guards he was calling his mother. His mother had died. The phone rang for him.

Here are the documents and reporting available to us about Karyna Shuliak’s role in Jeffrey Epstein’s life, based on DOJ documents and news reports. Shuliak has not been charged with any crime and has not made any public statements.

1. Shuliak grew up in Minsk, Belarus, and was 20 years old when he first contacted Epstein. He had just completed a 13-month sentence for attempted prostitution of a minor. He was a dental student at the Belarusian State Medical University. He paid for her visa and her flights to New York.

2. Epstein you introduced yourself to him under a false name. In the first books he used the name “Vassily” or “Russian Bear Vasily Malikov,” hiding his identity as a sex crime. He also coached him on how to enter the United States. Her advice: pose as a cleaning lady to get a visa.

3. In early 2012, he was texting her at 3 AM. Another read: “I miss you so much. Every part of you. I wish you were here.” The time stamp is consistent with every original connection. He was waiting. He responded when he deserved it.

4. In a 2012 email, he spoke directly about his sexual involvement with other people. He wrote that he understood his “need to innovate” but that it felt “dirty” to him, and asked to be removed from it. He concluded: “I’ll stay with you no matter what, as long as you’re happy. I love you.”

5. On February 11, 2013, Shuliak posted links to Epstein’s pornographic content. His answer was about the age of the women in it. Her message: “Please don’t send me sexual links, I don’t know how old these girls are and I want to make sure they are over 18.” His expressed concern was a non-issue. There was uncertainty about the age.

6. By mid-2013, Shuliak had raised specific fears with Epstein: the age gap between them, his preference for younger women, and what would happen to their relationship in ten years. His response was to list those fears and tell her to stop crying and be thankful. He wrote that he is “trying as much as possible to understand the things that concern you” and then said it without talking to anyone. You should be committing to “trying harder” instead of crying, he said. His answer: “The bottom line is that I’m not learning, I’m not doing anything new, so you’re not interested, right?” He got exactly the message he intended.

7. After Columbia’s College of Dental Medicine rejected Karyna Shuliak’s application on February 16, 2012, she was accepted in May 2012 through an “extraordinary process” that involved Epstein’s fundraising for the school.. Epstein donated $100,000 in August 2012 to a fund named after the dean, Ira Lamster, and $50,000 in 2014 to the school’s annual fund in Shuliak’s name, bringing total donations from Epstein to $210,000. He also revealed that he is considering a donation of $5 to $10 million to the school as well. Read more about the scandal here.

8. When his student visa expired in 2013, Epstein arranged a fake marriage to protect his US citizenship. He hooked her up with a woman who was dating Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother. They married in October 2013. Shuliak received a Green Card in 2015 and US citizenship in 2018. He filed for divorce the same year citizenship was granted.

9. On the day of his naturalization interview in 2018, Epstein’s immigration attorney sent him a celebratory message. A message from attorney Arda Beskardes: “now that he’s an American you should throw him a big ole party. with a mechanical bull, red white and blue balloons, and fried snickers on the flagpoles.”

10. He was a frequent passenger on Epstein’s private plane. Epstein also flew commercially, for example, on November 1, 2012, he flew Delta from New York (JFK) to San Juan, then connected to American Airlines to St. Thomas; and on March 14, 2013, he flew American Airlines from New York (JFK) to St. Thomas.

11. Epstein sent $20,000 to $25,000 a month to his parents in Belarus. His mother had breast cancer. He took full care of her at a New York clinic in 2013 and set up his mother on his credit card. His parents later moved to a high-rise apartment in Minsk.

12. From January to November 2014, Shuliak spent approximately $295,000 on one credit card covered by Epstein. Expenses included regular visits to the dermatologist, regular hair, nails, and massages, shopping at Bloomingdale’s, and daily tabs at cafes and restaurants.

13. In November 2015, he was working directly with Lesley Groff, one of Epstein’s top aides.. There are various emails about performance issues.

14. In July 2016, he was the person Epstein submitted his sperm storage papers to. Shuliak forwarded an inquiry from California Cryobank to an employee with a note: “Jeffrey has asked that you fill out all the forms attached below.” The employee confirmed that he has signed the original documents. He had access to his most sensitive matters.

15. By April 2017, she was managing housekeeping schedules and cleaning what she called “the girls’ apartments” at the Epstein building in Manhattan. In an official email to housing staff, he listed four apartments at 301 East 66th Street. His unit was one of them. He appealed to Epstein’s authority: “Mr. Epstein was clear that the girls’ apartments were to be cleaned once a week.” The phrase “girls’ flats” is her language.

16. People on Epstein’s trail nicknamed him “The Examiner.” The name came from his jealousy and his habit of monitoring his activities and communications. Another source described him to the Daily Mail as “very honest.”

17. In December 2014, she succeeded Ghislaine Maxwell as the named beneficiary of Epstein’s Butterfly Trust. Maxwell was officially removed. Added Shuliak in his place. This happened four years before Maxwell’s arrest and five years before Epstein’s death. Epstein had been rearranging his estate around him for years before he signed his last will and testament.

18. On August 8, 2019, two days before his death, Epstein signed a trust leaving Shuliak most of his assets. The 1953 Trust included a 700-square-foot Paris apartment, a 7-story restaurant in New York, Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, and his private islands in the US Virgin Islands, which were sold posthumously for $60 million. He also left her 48 diamonds and a 32-carat diamond ring worth $1.2 million that he wrote he gave her “in consideration of marriage.”

19. Epstein’s last phone call on August 10, 2019 was to Shuliak, but he told prison guards he was calling his mother. His mother had died. No recording was made. The call lasted about 15 to 30 minutes; He was found dead in his cell a short time later.

20. Shuliak has largely avoided the public eye since Epstein’s death. He was last photographed in public in New York on May 30, 2024. He earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery at Columbia in 2015 and completed a master’s degree in dentistry there in 2025, with a video of him at the graduation ceremony at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine YouTube.

21. Shuliyaki will probably not get any inheritance. The American and French authorities stopped the inheritance. More than 170 victims have been compensated so far, too no a person gets anything until they get anything until all the victim’s requests are fully satisfied.