The story of Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier convicted of sexual offences, did not end with his death. Instead, it continues to bring figures who remained outside public view for years back into the spotlight.
The latest is his former intimate companion, Karina Shuliak, whose private life came under renewed scrutiny after the US Department of Justice released millions of documents from the investigation files earlier this year. The disclosures included thousands of exchanged messages and dozens of photographs linking her to Epstein, disrupting her attempt to live quietly as a dentist in New York.
An investigation by The New York Times traces Shuliak’s life from her first meeting with Epstein and the role he played in her education and future, to her efforts to establish a discreet career as a dentist in Brooklyn and the questions surrounding her potential inheritance of millions of dollars from his estate.
A Life-Changing Meeting
The New York Times described the 37-year-old Shuliak as one of the most complex figures in Epstein’s circle.
Since his death, she has tried to remain out of public view. She has not identified herself as one of his victims, while US federal authorities have not treated her as an accomplice in the sex-trafficking network connected to him.
Shuliak moved from Belarus to the United States in 2011 on a temporary student visa to study English. She hoped to continue the dentistry studies she had begun in her home country.
Documents show that a young woman from Siberia introduced her to Epstein in March 2011, when Shuliak was 21. Their relationship would continue for nearly eight years.
According to the investigation, their early encounters followed the same pattern Epstein used with other women. He lavished attention and gifts on her, attempted to win her favour and immediately offered to help her fulfil her ambition of becoming a dentist.
Emails indicate that she rejected his advances during the first few months. Epstein continued pursuing her, however, and she visited his New Mexico ranch in July 2011, followed by a trip to his private island several months later.
Epstein’s Assistance
By the winter of 2012, Shuliak had accepted Epstein’s offers to help her pursue her career.
After Columbia University’s dental school rejected her application, Epstein contacted the school’s dean through his dentist, Thomas Magnani, and donated around $210,000 to the university. The newspaper said this was sufficient to facilitate her admission.
The Justice Department files also included text messages indicating that Magnani and James Fine, an official at the dental school, informed Shuliak in advance about the subjects she would face in a practical admissions test for transfer students in April 2012.
After passing the examination and securing admission, Epstein paid her tuition fees throughout the three years of her studies.
In one message to him in 2012, Shuliak wrote: “You are the purest of men.”
The investigation said Shuliak had overstayed her visa by the time she applied to Columbia University. In early 2013, Epstein found a way for her to remain in the country, suggesting in one message that marrying a woman could be “the fastest way to get a green card”.
Several months after the marriage, Shuliak obtained permanent residency. She formally became a US citizen in May 2018 and separated one year after receiving citizenship.
According to the newspaper, US immigration authorities did not challenge the procedures through which she acquired her citizenship.
An Uncertain Inheritance
The documents reveal the scale of the privileges Epstein gave Shuliak.
He once described her as his “favourite” and allowed her to use a credit card to buy whatever she wanted.
She travelled with him around the world, and over several years he transferred approximately $1 million to her, as well as tens of thousands of dollars to her parents in Belarus.
Over time, Shuliak gained Epstein’s trust and became involved in managing his properties and employees.
According to The New York Times, she was also the last person he called before his suicide in his prison cell in 2019.
Shortly before his death, Epstein amended his will to leave Shuliak a large share of his fortune, then estimated at around $600 million.
This included a 33-carat diamond ring designated for her “in contemplation of marriage”, according to a handwritten note on a document connected to the will.
Federal investigation records indicate that Shuliak could inherit as much as $100 million from the estate. The amount she will ultimately receive, however, remains unclear.
The value of the estate has fallen to between $120 million and $200 million following substantial payments to Epstein’s victims, according to the investigation.
The will also names dozens of other beneficiaries, including the children of Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, who could receive $10 million.
A Life Away From Public View
Despite the vast fortune she may inherit, Shuliak did not abandon her professional ambitions.
By 2023, she had returned to New York and applied for a postgraduate dentistry programme at Columbia University to complete one of the requirements for obtaining a state licence.
In November 2025, she received her New York dental licence and began working part-time at a dental clinic in central Brooklyn, according to one of the clinic’s dentists, who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity.
The New York Times reported that a patient named Yunhai Kim received treatment from Shuliak twice before learning her true identity after photographs of her were published in the Epstein files.
Kim then contacted the newspaper to warn other patients.
“I was extremely upset and could not believe what had happened,” Kim said. “Of all the things fate could have given me, I did not win the lottery. I met Epstein’s girlfriend.”
The investigation said Shuliak’s final day at the clinic was 12 February. She later called in sick and did not return to work.
A dentist at the clinic suggested that the attention generated by the newly released Epstein documents had made it difficult for her to continue working there.
Shuliak’s lawyer declined to say whether she had since taken another job in dentistry.
