Documents issued by the US Department of Justice, relating to the American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of sexual crimes, revealed a close relationship that extended for nearly three years between him and the Emirati diplomat, Hind Al Owais, during her period of work in her country’s mission to the United Nations in New York.
According to what “Arabi 21” reviewed, the published documents, which include 469 documents (some of which are duplicates), mentioned Al Owais’s name repeatedly, and date back to the period between 2010 and 2012, when she was working as an advisor in the UAE mission to the United Nations.
Hind Al Owais began her work in the UAE diplomatic corps in 2000. She holds a master’s degree in public political arts from Tisch College in New York, in addition to a master’s degree in international affairs from the American University of Beirut.
In 2015, she became the first Emirati to be appointed to the position of international advisor at the United Nations in New York, and later held multiple positions, including Deputy Executive Director of UN Women.
Correspondence and appointment records show that the relationship between Al Owais and Epstein went beyond a protocol acquaintance, and included frequent meetings at Epstein’s private Manhattan home, located at 9 East 71st Street, a location that was later linked to expanded investigations into his criminal cases.
The documents reveal a recurring pattern of direct invitations, with Epstein requesting to meet with Al-Owais at various times, while the latter carefully coordinated their appointments, sometimes coinciding with cultural visits or her presence outside the United States, including Beirut and Paris.
The documents also showed that some of the meetings included her sister, Hala Al Owais, and that Epstein arranged joint meetings for them, including a meeting with his personal lawyer, Reed Weingarten, in January 2012.
The documents show that the relationship took practical dimensions, as Al-Owais turned to Epstein for banking and personal legal issues, including seeking advice regarding a dispute with an American bank, in addition to requesting his help in securing lawyers specialized in divorce and immigration cases for her sister.
Epstein also offered to provide personal accommodations to Al-Owais, including the use of his own car and driver in New York, and even the possibility of staying in one of his apartments, according to correspondence dated April 2011.
Other correspondence indicates that Epstein tried to approach Emirati institutions through Al Owais, proposing to organize international scientific conferences in Abu Dhabi and support international research awards, but Al Owais later informed him that these ideas were rejected by official authorities.
While one of the documents circulating on social media sparked widespread controversy regarding accusations related to Epstein’s sexual scandals, a review of the full context of the correspondence confirms, according to “Arabi 21,” that the references received relate to “Hind Al Owais” and her sister only, and do not include anything proving their involvement in any illegal activity.
The publication of these documents comes as part of a new batch of judicial files related to Jeffrey Epstein, which re-shed light on his extensive network of relationships with political, financial, and academic figures, before his death in prison in 2019. The US Department of Justice had released these documents in response to accumulated judicial requests aimed at revealing the circle of influence and relationships that surrounded Epstein during his years of activity.
