This process began in Jersey, in the 1960s. Marcus Samuel, the proprietor of the bank HM Samuel and Co, had multiple clients around the empire who were looking to relocate back home due to decolonisation, but who wanted to avoid Britain’s upper tax rate, which was above 90 per cent at the time. In 1962, he persuaded Jersey’s parliament to scrap a cap it had on interest rates and set the island up as an offshore haven. Samuel was a member of the House of Lords, the third Viscount Bearsten. The first Viscount, his grandfather, from whom he had inherited both his title and his bank, was also the founder of another company: Shell. This connection between Britain’s oil industry and its tax havens is more than just one historic familial quirk. To this day, Big Oil is a major utiliser of British offshore zones.
The illegal war on Iran has resulted in a windfall for oil companies and their shareholders:
Oil prices in Europe are approaching a record $150 a barrel in response to the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, the share value of the world’s six biggest stock-market-listed oil companies has soared by more than $130bn, hitting record highs. Report by ADAM RAMSAY
For the two British companies on that list – Shell and BP – the combined spoils of Trump and Netanyahu’s war are estimated at £5bn, while US oil companies can expect a $63bn boost.
If Brexit was about transforming Britain into even more of an offshore haven for corporate wealth and power, then this single relocation is perhaps its biggest success. The move means that Shell’s global headquarters is now just one mile from BP’s, and that London hosts two of the world’s six ‘oil supermajors’. Houston, Texas hosts another two (ExxonMobil and Chevron), while Paris and Rome host one each (TotalEnergies and Eni).
Adam Ramsay explains about Royal Dutch Shell becoming just Shell:
Its full name, Royal Dutch Shell, wasn’t a reference to the House of Windsor, but to the House of Orange – the Netherlands’ royal family. From 1917, its global headquarters had been in a Renaissance Dutch-style building in the Hague. But in 2022, it abandoned that history. The Shell Centre, a modernist tower on the south bank of the River Thames, just behind the London Eye and across the water from the Houses of Parliament, became its International HQ. Now, it’s just Shell plc. And now, legally at least, it’s just ‘Anglo’.
They were escaping legal action by Friends of the Earth in the Netherlands and did so by moving to London.
The Epstein files reveal the history of his offering a service to wealthy individuals of concealing and/or investing their funds, often utilizing offshore banks, thus avoiding high taxes which would fund the nation they are registered in. He also offered his services of wealth management to oil rich magnates.
In Feb 2026:
HSBC and Barclays hit with £9.5bn Epstein-linked trust lawsuit
US heirs allege offshore trust was used to divert family wealth.
HSBC and Barclays are defending a £9.5bn US lawsuit linked to a Jersey trust under scrutiny.
February 18, 2026 8:28 AM GMTUpdated February 21, 2026
Item 1 of 2 Late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem are seen in this undated handout image from the Epstein estate released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee in Washington, D.C., U.S., on December 18, 2025. House Oversight Committee Democrats/Handout via REUTERS
[1/2]Late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem are seen in this undated handout image from the Epstein estate released by Democrats on the House Oversight… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more
Summary
Companies
Files show Epstein sought powerful network of ties across Middle East
Saudi Aramco’s potential IPO among issues touched on in files
DP World CEO resigns after being named in Epstein files
DUBAI, Feb 19 (Reuters) – The departure of the chief executive of Dubai port giant DP World is the biggest fallout in the Middle East from U.S. Department of Justice documents which show that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein tried to build a powerful network of political figures and business leaders across the region.
DP World announced on Friday that Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem had resigned as chief executive and chair. The decision to act was taken after Bin Sulayem’s name appeared in the Epstein files, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, and as his relationship with the late convicted sex offender faced increasing scrutiny.
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Dubai’s ruler on Friday also issued a decree appointing a new chairman for Dubai’s Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, one of several roles Bin Sulayem held.
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Being named in the file is not evidence of criminal activity. But after members of the U.S. Congress said Bin Sulayem’s name appeared in files released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), he faced renewed questions from some of DP World’s financial backers over his past interactions.
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UK development finance agency, British International Investment, and Canada’s second-largest pension fund said last week they would suspend all new investment with DP World over Bin Sulayem’s alleged ties to Epstein.
“We are shocked by the allegations emerging in the Epstein
Files regarding Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem,” said a spokesperson for BII, without saying which allegations he was referring to. “In light of the allegations, we will not be making any new investments with DP World until the required actions have been taken by the company.”
Canadian pension fund La Caisse said it was “pausing additional capital deployment alongside the company” until DP World clarified the situation and took “the necessary actions”.
In a statement after Friday’s leadership changes at DP World, BII welcomed DP World’s decision and said it looked forward to continuing “our partnership to advance the development of key African trading ports”. La Caisse said “the company took the appropriate measures” and that it would “move quickly to work with DP World’s new leadership to continue our partnership on port projects around the world”.
Bin Sulayem did not immediately respond when asked by Reuters to comment on the actions taken by BII and La Caisse. DP World declined comment.
NETWORK OF CONTACTS
The large cache of documents released by the DOJ, including text messages and emails, also shows the Middle East was no exception to Epstein’s efforts to use his wealth to build relationships with prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business around the world.
Reuters was unable to ascertain how successful Epstein was in seeking to influence his contacts in the Middle East, and whether his advice was heeded.
The DOJ documents reviewed by Reuters show Epstein tried to advise Qatari business leaders and political figures during the 2017-21 blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt over accusations that Doha failed to curb ties with Iran and supported terrorism, which Qatar denied.
In exchanges with a Qatari businessman and ruling family member Sheikh Jabor Yousuf Jassim Al Thani, Epstein urged Qatar to “stop kicking and arguing…let the heat come down a bit”. He said “the current Qatar team is very weak” and “FM is not experienced and it shows.”
Qatar’s foreign minister at the time was Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who now serves as both foreign minister and prime minister. Sheikh Mohammed has not commented publicly on Epstein’s portrayal of him. Asked about the exchange, Qatar’s International Media Office, which handles media requests for the prime minister, declined to comment.
There was no response to a Reuters request for comment emailed to three companies in Qatar that Sheikh Jabor is listed as chairman of, or to a text message sent to an individual who, according to the files released by the DOJ, works in Sheikh Jabor’s office.
Epstein urged Doha to forge links with Israel to stay in the good graces of Donald Trump, who was then in his first term as U.S. president. He suggested the Gulf state either move towards recognising Israel or pledge $1 billion to a fund for terrorism victims. Ultimately, Qatar stuck to its independent course. In 2021, the blockading countries restored ties with Doha, and ties between the Trump administration and Qatar are now strong.
DISCUSSION OF SAUDI ARAMCO IPO
Epstein discussed Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering in dozens of email exchanges. In one exchange dated September 10, 2016, with a person named as Aziza Alahmadi, and with former Norwegian diplomat Terje Roed-Larson copied in, Epstein warned that Aramco going public could expose Saudi Arabia to lawsuits and asset seizures. Saudi Aramco declined to comment on these emails.
Alahmadi could not be reached for comment and Reuters was unable to establish her role, if any, in Epstein’s activities.
In an email dated October 16, 2017, and also sent to Alahmadi, Epstein suggested selling China an option to buy a $100-billion stake in Aramco rather than pursuing a traditional IPO, saying it would provide liquidity while limiting exposure to public markets.
Saudi Aramco declined to comment to Reuters on the emails. Roed-Larsen did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by email via his lawyer.
Epstein’s reach also extended to Egypt, the documents released by the DOJ show. Some emails show a request from a family member of Hosni Mubarak – the wife of his son Gamal Mubarak – that was passed on to Epstein asking for help in 2011, following the former president’s ouster and subsequent legal troubles. They did not say what kind of assistance was sought and Reuters was unable to establish whether Epstein had tried to intercede on the family’s behalf.
Lionel Halperin, a lawyer for Gamal Mubarak, told Reuters by email that no member of the Mubarak family ever knew of Epstein or ever sought or received assistance from any source, directly or indirectly.
He said Roed-Larsen and others had attempted in 2011 to reach out to Gamal Mubarak to better understand the situation in Egypt and that of the Mubarak family. As Gamal Mubarak was in prison at the time pending an investigation, he asked his wife, Khadiga El Gammal, to send back “messages of appreciation” to those who reached out to him and his family.
It was in this context that “a few emails” were sent to Roed-Larsen, Halperin said.
“Gamal Mubarak has no explanation, and does not know the context, as to why some of such emails were forwarded to an email account of Mr. Epstein at the time,” Halperin said.
Additional reporting by Nadine Awadalla and Yousef Saba in Dubai, Writing by Michael Georgy, Editing by Timothy Heritage
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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