As a result of the publication of the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's archive, the names of not only those he interacted with but also those to whom he bequeathed his estate became known.
From the trust agreement that Epstein drafted two days before his death, it follows that his main heiress was to be a dentist from Belarus named Karina Shulyak. This is a woman Epstein was planning to marry and who was the last to speak with him before his death. Epstein bequeathed her tens of millions of dollars. However, it is unknown whether she received this money, and if not, whether she will be able to obtain it in the future.
Two days before his death, Epstein drafted a document listing his heirs. In the last and largest batch of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, released by the U.S. Department of Justice on January 30, there was a trust agreement that apparently was intended to serve as the financier's will. The 32-page document, which Epstein drafted two days before his demise, outlines who will inherit his estate after his death.
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead on August 10, 2019, in a New York jail cell where he was placed on charges of trafficking, including minors, for sexual exploitation. His death was officially ruled a suicide, although there is a conspiracy theory suggesting he was murdered.
In 2019, Epstein's estate was estimated at nearly $600 million. In court documents dated 2025, this estimate dropped to $127 million. In his will, the financier allocated $288 million, as well as several real estate properties, ABC News reported, which analyzed the document.
At Epstein's request, after his death, his estate was to be divided among four dozen beneficiaries, including his brother Mark, his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell (who is serving a 20-year sentence for "recruiting" minors for sex with Epstein and his influential friends), as well as people who worked for him, such as his personal pilot Larry Visoski. The names of some beneficiaries in the document are redacted.
According to the trust agreement, Ghislaine Maxwell and Mark Epstein were to inherit $10 million each. Accountant Richard Kahn and attorney Darren Indyke, who signed the agreement and became its executors, were allocated $25 million and $50 million respectively. And the main heiress of Epstein turned out to be Karina Shulyak — a woman whom, according to the agreement, the financier intended to marry. She was to receive $100 million, 48 diamonds, and Epstein's diamond ring, as well as his properties — including apartments in Paris and New York, a ranch in New Mexico, and Little Saint James, Epstein's private island in the Caribbean where he hosted parties.
Epstein's main heiress Karina Shulyak is from Belarus
Karina Shulyak, Jeffrey Epstein's companion, first came to public attention in the spring of 2020. At that time, the tabloid New York Daily News reported that she was the last person Epstein spoke to before his death. According to The New York Times, he called her on the evening of August 9, 2019. The conversation lasted 15 minutes and was not recorded. When asked by a guard who he was calling, Epstein replied that it was his mother (who actually died in 2004). After the call, he returned to his cell, where he was found hanged the next morning.
Karina Shulyak is from Belarus. She attended school No. 2 in Minsk, where she is remembered as a shy and modest girl who danced, the tabloid The Daily Mail reported. After school, Karina, according to Zerkalo, enrolled in the Belarusian State Medical University. In 2009, at the age of 20, Shulyak first traveled to the U.S. through the Work and Travel program, which allowed foreign students to come to America for the summer, work there, and travel around the country. It is believed that in the same or the following year, Karina met Epstein.
The acquaintance occurred shortly after Epstein was convicted as a sex offender. At that time, almost everyone turned away from him except for Karina, an anonymous source told The Daily Mail in 2020. According to him, Karina is "a very sincere, kind, decent person," and she stayed with Epstein not for the money, but because she was "madly in love with him."
Epstein, in turn, paid for Karina's dental education at Columbia University (which she studied in Belarus) and helped her obtain a work license, although ultimately the Belarusian never became a dentist. He also covered expensive medical treatment for her mother in the U.S., the source told The Daily Mail. As Belarusian journalists discovered, in the mid-2010s, Epstein repeatedly obtained visas to Belarus but never traveled there. However, he apparently bought an apartment in Minsk, transferred at least $100,000 to Karina's parents, and hosted them in the U.S. several times. In return, they sent him letters with holiday greetings.
Due to compensation to Epstein's victims, Karina may not receive his inheritance
It is unknown whether Karina was aware of Epstein's "masseuses" and whether she was involved in his sex crimes. In the financier's archive, there is a message from 2013 in which he reproaches Karina for believing it was her right to monitor who comes in and out of his massage room. A source told The Daily Mail that Karina was nicknamed "the inspector" in Epstein's circle because she allegedly "was madly jealous of Epstein and constantly found out who he was communicating with."
New York Daily News reported, citing sources, that Shulyak was not subjected to sexual exploitation by Epstein and genuinely believed that he loved her. At the same time, according to tabloids, she obtained the right to permanent residency in the U.S. through a sham marriage to a woman in Epstein's circle named Jennifer Kalin. Sigrid McCauley, one of the attorneys for Epstein's victims, explained that sham same-sex marriages allowed the financier to keep girls he liked in the U.S.
Nothing is known about any claims against Karina from law enforcement in connection with the Epstein investigation.
According to New York Daily News, in the last phone call between Epstein and Karina Shulyak, nothing indicated that Epstein was planning to commit suicide. After his death, Karina fell into depression, The Daily Mail reported. Reflecting on how she was living, a source speculated that Karina was spending the savings she had left from Epstein and "was hoping for his will."
It is presumed that now, more than six years after the financier's death, Karina Shulyak lives in New York. It is unknown whether she received the inheritance, and if so, in what amount: The New York Times notes that Epstein's estate inevitably decreased after taxes and compensation to victims were paid. Attorney Daniel Weiner, representing the interests of Epstein's last will executors Richard Kahn and Darren Indyke, stated that none of the trust beneficiaries would receive "any money" until all claims against the estate, including compensation claims from Epstein's victims, were fully satisfied. According to Weiner, Kahn and Indyke have already paid them $170 million.
