Sultan Of Sleaze
The CEO of one of the world's largest port mangers was sunk by his own send button – exchanging emails with Jeffrey Epstein
“Rank does not confer privilege. … It imposes responsibility.” – Peter Drucker
The CEO of one of the world’s largest port operators stepped down last week after the Justice Department released his sexually explicit email exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem ran DP World, a pillar of Dubai’s economy and a company that handles cargo at more than 60 ports and terminals across six continents.
International ports are highly regulated and comprise one of the world’s most vital pieces of infrastructure.
It’s a sensitive business, so a company like DP World might want to avoid reputational risks – like having a CEO who carried on like a school boy with a registered sex offender for years on end.
Bin Sulayem hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing. But the optics are fatal for any executive who is paid to do business in dozens of countries.
Some nations – like the United Kingdom where they stripped a prince of his royalty – tend to be sensitive about things like international sex trafficking and convicted pedophiles. Imagine that.
Finance groups in the U.K. and Canada immediately paused business with DP World after the emails came to light.
The sultan exchanged hundreds of them with Epstein, often referencing porn, sexual massages and escorts. He did this long after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
Instead of describing these these missives further, I’ve pasted a few samples below.
Related Reading:
An Epstein Valentine (Business Blunders)
Networking With A Pedophile (Business Blunders)
Meditations With A Sex Offender (Business Blunders)
Winter Is Coming For Summers (Business Blunders)
Was Maxwell Smart? (Business Blunders)
Business Blunders keeps tabs on executives stung in the release of the Epstein files. If you want to keep up with some really smart reporting and great writing on the ever-evolving scandal, I recommend my former classmate, and best-selling author, Nina Burleigh at American Freakshow.
A nauseating peek under the circus tent
You will find hundreds of bin Sulayem’s emails by searching his name in more than three million pages in the Justice Department’s data base.
You also will find many other wealthy and powerful people who, like the sultan, must have believed they were too big for consequences.
Torture video? What the hell does that mean on a “Jeffrey vacation.” Dark humor? Violent media? Or something worse?
And where’s the video?
From port to gritty port, the world is left to wonder.
