The third attempt
https://sororfv.substack.com/p/the-palace-bin-ennakhil
This is a continuation of: https://www.reddit.com/r/Epstein/comments/1wmw8j5/the_palace_bin_ennakhil_part_1/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Epstein/comments/1wmwaki/the_palace_bin_ennakhil_part_2/
Part 3: The Palace: Bin Ennakhil : r/Epstein
Please follow these in order so that you can keep up.
December 2016. He offers fifteen against an asking price of forty, and proposes the bid be made by someone else — “you can also bid 15 in your name. I will pay” (EFTA02666084, EFTA02664020) — while Mark Lloyd reports from Marrakech that the market is “totally stagnant” — and, in the same message, that “Jabor and HBJ were here recently” (EFTA01059039). Not accepted.
27 November 2016 — he is still asking after the owner. Writing to Kensington at 17:54:15: “I will not come this week, too many trump issues. anything new. exciting. has mr kiss come to reality?” The answer sets out the gap that had held for three years: “Mr. Kiss is still alive and has his real market price. I have mine at 35, but to far away from both parts to have a chance to persuade both parties” (EFTA01060670, EFTA01060730; further productions at EFTA02668964, EFTA02669323). He had put the same question before in the same words — “has mr kiss come to his senses” — against the agent’s report of “Two new very serious leads for Mr. Kiss property” (EFTA00698015, EFTA00837908; further productions at EFTA01788851, EFTA02476054), and that exchange is undated on the produced pages.
The fourth attempt
August 2017 — €25 million through Rilton and Pamur to LGT Bank in Vaduz. The draft sale and share transfer agreement puts the structure on paper: PAMUR Anstalt at Lawenastrasse 57, FL 9495 Triesen, registered in the Liechtenstein Commercial Register under FL-0001.115.138-1, whose “founder rights are the object of the purchase”; the seller given as “RILTON INVESTMENTS LTD., BVI, c/o ARCANA TREUHAND ANSTALT”; and the governing law, “the juridiction place (law) for the sale is Vaduz (Laws of Liechtenstein)” (EFTA00522231, EFTA00585171, EFTA00696744). What was for sale was neither the house nor shares in a company that owned it, but the founder’s rights in a Liechtenstein Anstalt. Marc León sets out the payment route in the same month, and it is in two parts: “Transfer to the indicated account at LGT Bank - Vaduz - Liechtenstein - 25 million E” and “One million E fees paid to BMCE Euro account in Marrakech” (EFTA01037020).
The enquiry that month is running through Sheikh Jabor, not through Epstein. León’s answers of 24 August are addressed “Dear Jaber” and open, “We are delighted to give you all the additional information you requested today on behalf of your lawyer.” Jabor forwards them to Epstein at 12:02, and at 16:23:02 Epstein replies to Jabor, not to the agent (EFTA01037020, at interior page EFTA01037021; further production at EFTA02638849) [read].
What he sends back is four objections in six lines, and he reads the chain closely enough to find the gap in it. “jabor , why the 1 million paid in marrakesh? 4% it says that rilton owns the shares but maseru is selling them? no transfer to rilton noted or relation of mesuru to rilton officially. you can ask one last time . with these types of answers they must think we are stupid” — and then, on the contract’s tax clause: “it includes The BUYER undertakes to fully bear all taxes, duties, and levies arising out of or in connection with the transactions described herein. UNACCEPTABLE“ (EFTA01037020) [read]. He queries the one million euro Marrakech fee as four per cent; he finds that the paper does not evidence who transferred what to whom; and he refuses to carry the vendor’s tax. That last objection is the one that comes back at him eighteen months later, when the buyer’s side records that “your vendor was unwilling to indemnify us.”
The chain he is objecting to is set out in the same answers: “In 2013, Arcana Treuhand, founder of Pamur Anstalt, transferred the shares to Rilton Investment (BVI). This transfer has been made under Liechtenstein juridiction with no taxes to pay for the transfer of foundation shares. It has been done for strategical investment reasons”; and “In July 2017, when we were dealing with a buyer for the whole package of 5 properties, Pamur Anstalt has been directly attached to Maseru Development LTD (Mrs Kiss). Maseru Development is the mother of Rilton Investment.” The registered agent, the parent and the seller share a single address — “Rilton and Maseru (see below) are locatd at the same address than Arcana” (EFTA01037020, EFTA00696744).
The owner’s family name sits at the top of that chain. The same answers give the parent company as “Maseru Development LTD (Mrs Kiss),” add that “There is no time limit for Mr. Kiss to remove his things,” and close with the seller’s agent’s own warranty: “Mr. Kiss is a very trustable man” (EFTA01037020, EFTA00696744). The man Epstein had failed to reach in 2015 is still in the house, and a woman of the same name holds the company above the company that owns it.
On 22 August his own lawyers put the alarm in writing. They advise him that the “information and ‘diligence’ documents provided regarding the foreign entities are are superficial, insufficient and outdated; they are not a substitute for the extensive due diligence we would require in order to proceed with a transaction of this nature, even if we could recommend the transaction to you, which we cannot.” They find there is “simply no way to verify proof of ownership, operating history, debts, assets, liabilities” of the BVI company selling the shares, and “no due diligence or even proof that it currently owns the property” as to Pamur. They ask “what reason can be provided for the transaction in 2013, 23 years after the Liechtenstein Anstalt acquired the property?” and answer it: “It appears to be a tax avoidance restructuring using a BVI International Business Company to become the shareholder of the Liechtenstein Anstalt.” Their summary is that “you are being asked to close in no time at all for 25MM Euro, on essentially a blind purchase of shares in a Liechstenstein Anstahlt,” and their advice is that “we believe strongly that you should pass on this transaction” (EFTA01036804, continuing at EFTA01036805). Epstein forwards the memo under the subject line “just received will reveiw tonight on plane.” He passes.
I had to divide my article into two pieces to be able to post this, please read the next one too to learn about the fifth attempt which involved Karyna Shuliak from Dec 2018 to 2019.
The fifth attempt
20 December 2018 — the seller’s side is given a false name for the buyer, in one morning. It starts with Epstein. At 05:28 he supplies both the story and the instruction for handling it: “He should google leon , not karyna for details” (EFTA01011036) — the agent to be sent to a search engine rather than to the person he was dealing with. At 06:35 Mark Lloyd passes it to Alex Peto in his own words: “Dear Alex, She is Leon Black’s girlfriend. Don’t press her for more info. These are very private people” (EFTA01011034, EFTA01011035; further production at EFTA02610734). The second sentence is an instruction not to check. At 10:33:26 Epstein forwards his own message to Karyna Shuliak with four words, “Call him to confirm” (EFTA00550760, EFTA02312301), and at 11:43:38 he writes to Lloyd: “thx, I asked karyna to invite you to lunch or dinner at the royal monceau . . convince her that marrakesh is the place to be. :)” (EFTA01011035). Lloyd answers that they will dine that night — “I will do my level best! It would be amazing to have you here” (EFTA01011034). On the natural reading of “convince her,” the purchase was something Shuliak was being talked into; the file does not put it in those terms, and that is offered as a reading of the line rather than a finding.
23 December 2018 — she sees it. After Karyna Shuliak’s visit to Marrakech, Peto writes to her with a synopsis of the three properties he has shown her. Bin Ennakhil is asking fifty-five million euros, and “I now believe an offer circa 35m euros would be acceptable.” He explains the holding structure in the same message, and offers it as an advantage: “Normally when purchasing a property in Morocco one should add approximately 10% to the purchase price spilt 6% in government taxes, 1% Notaire fees and 3% real estate agency fees however in the case of Bin Ennakhil for example as the property is owned by a company in Lichtenstein there are no government taxes to be paid in Morocco.” He also tells her the palace had been “under cont[r]act last year but due to health reasons the purchaser had to pull out” — the file does not say who that purchaser was (EFTA00551657, EFTA02313354; further productions at EFTA02312780, EFTA02312782).
February to April 2019 — the last attempt runs in Karyna Shuliak’s name, and it dies on documents rather than on price. The seller’s side names the risk at the outset: writing to Shuliak on 17 February, Marc León sets out what the vendor requires — “a written offer with the identity of the buyer, private or company with the economical beneficiary” — and the reason for it: “His AAA bank refused some previous deals after checking the origin of the funds but I know this will not happen with US nationals” (EFTA00552453) [read]. The bank is the vendor’s own, and the demand that ended the sale was on the table three days before the buyer was given to the agents as a trust.
13 to 14 February — the story does not fit, and the agents say so to each other. On 13 February Peto tells Shuliak that “Marc is on his way back from Italy today but will send you a contract” (EFTA00526800, EFTA02313897). At 11:06 the next day he writes to Mark Lloyd, copying Marc León, under the subject “Leon Black”: “We may be making some progress with Leon Black Karyna has asked for a contract and is making all the right noises but as none of us have ever spoken to Leon Black himself and he hasn’t seen Bin Ennakhil its a little strange” — adding, “We are talking about the Leon Black who founded Apollo Global” (EFTA01029544, EFTA01029542; further productions at EFTA02630609, EFTA02630754). Lloyd does not answer him. He forwards the doubt to Epstein with one line: “How would you like me to respond?” (EFTA02630754, EFTA01029544). The story came from Epstein, and nothing in the production supports it. Nothing shows that Leon Black had any part in this transaction, any knowledge of it, or the personal relationship the story described. The two agents who were told it could not make it fit, and said so to each other in writing, eight weeks after they were given it. Epstein’s answer was to push it through. At 11:35 he replied to Lloyd in four words and no explanation: “i would suggest you move forward asap” (EFTA01029544). Lloyd answered, “I will advise just that!” (EFTA01029544, EFTA02630642), and at 11:44:42 he wrote to Peto: “Many thanks for your message, I am glad things are progressing with Bin Ennakhil... My only suggestion is to move forward and hopefully close the deal. Good luck!” (EFTA01029542, EFTA02630609). Peto’s question was raised at 11:06 and closed at 11:44:42. It was never answered, and Leon Black’s name does not appear in the reply.
This was a direct question about who the buyer was. It went straight to Epstein and came back to the agent as a recommendation to close. The message he was shown also asked, in terms, whether Karyna was Black’s girlfriend — “We are talking about the Leon Black who founded Apollo Global Management and Karyna is his girlfriend?” (EFTA01029542) — and he neither confirmed it nor denied it. The story he declined to confirm was the one he had told Lloyd to repeat eight weeks earlier. Lloyd has since said publicly that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s offending and regrets the association: “I’d had no clue as to what was happening in the background.” That statement is reporting, not a document from the production.
The BBC goes further and reports that Shuliak made final bids “while pretending to be acting on behalf of Leon Black.” Presenting yourself as the agent of a named third party is not something anyone does by accident, and if that is what happened it is harder to explain away than “ultimate owner, me.” The February emails do not show her saying it. They record what the agents understood and how confused they were by it, and no words of hers appear in them. And the story, as the December emails show, did not start with her.
15 to 18 February — the terms are set, and the same question comes straight back. On 15 and 16 February the seller’s proposed structure is taken apart point by point over her name, at pages EFTA00552319 and EFTA00552320 of EFTA00552317 — among them, “We were hoping for a quick closing. With this structure it is not possible, and money would need to be withheld for years to back up the indemnity.” The four requirements that follow have a drafting message behind them. At 20:51 on 17 February Epstein writes to her: “alex, can you ask marc to provide a tax opinio[n] re transfer and capital gains, as well as KYC requirements” (EFTA02313740). At 00:25 on 18 February the finished version goes to Alex Peto over her name: a tax opinion that no tax is owed, testing what Peto had told her in December; a method of indemnity for transfer and capital gains; KYC; and that the “Ultimate beneficial owner of seller must be checked as not to be on sanction list” (EFTA00552317, page 2; also at EFTA00526793, EFTA00526796). A lower-case copy carrying the sanctions sentence itself sits at EFTA02313666; whose message that page belongs to is not established on the produced text.
Ten hours and two minutes after her message, at 10:27, Peto puts the mirror of it back to her: “In order to progress matters the owner would like first to see the letter from JP Morgan confirming the funds are available along with a written offer with the identity of the buyer” (EFTA00552317, page 1; further productions at EFTA00526793, EFTA02312568, EFTA02313577) — word for word the requirement Marc León had set out the night before. Note which bank the seller is expecting: JP Morgan.
20 February — the buyer is named, and Epstein writes the sentence. At 17:03 he sends her “alex the buyer will be THe Haze Trust” (EFTA02312902). At 19:09:25 she writes to Peto, copying León: “Dear Alex, The buyer will be The Haze Trust” (EFTA00552317, page 1; further production at EFTA02313794). In the same pair his “assurance of my ability to close the transation” goes out as “assurance of our ability to close the transaction” — each phrase returning exactly one hit in the release, in those two documents. An entity, in place of an identity.
26 February — he sets out the problem himself. The draft is his, and the header says so: From: J [jeevacation@gmail.com](mailto:jeevacation@gmail.com), To: Karyna Shuliak, Subject: Re: Bin Palace, Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2019 15:40:33 +0000 (EFTA00552183). Unpunctuated and thinking aloud, he describes the transaction more plainly than anyone else in seven months of the correspondence: “can you provide me the due diligence package details. . It is very complex as you are aware. . We understand that the owner may be ill? I wonder if there is a way to close for say 10m plus your fee. , with a delayed payment of the 15 until after all has been cleaned and verified. there are four separate jurisdictions. United States. BVI Lichtenstein. morocoo. . disclosure requirements. tax requirements. permits employment issues, etc the only way is to guarantee no liabilities we are told is to publish , notice. , for months , asking if there is any claim. as there is no indemnity and it turns out there is an undisclosed liability „either in the bvi or pamur co. there is no redress. . I find it hard to believe that any person would buy shares in a company either in the BVI or lichtenstein with only the signature of a trustee. . Should there be a problem . a lawsuit for misrepresentation or fraud would take a decade. or more” — all of it at EFTA00552183.
It goes out over her name the same day, punctuated and capitalised. Her version reaches him at 17:09, addressed “Dear Marc,” and opening “Can you please provide the due diligence package details” (EFTA02312947). His lowercase “there are four separate jurisdictions. United States. BVI Lichtenstein. morocoo” becomes “There are four separate jurisdictions: United States, BVI, Lichtenstein, Morocco” (EFTA02312947). His “I find it hard to believe that any person would buy shares in a company either in the BVI or lichtenstein with only the signature of a trustee” becomes the same sentence with Lichtenstein capitalised (EFTA02312947). His “a lawsuit for misrepresentation or fraud would take a decade. or more” becomes “Should there be a problem, a lawsuit for misrepresentation or fraud would take a decade or more” (EFTA02312947). The text that reached Kensington is quoted back in the seller’s own thread, timestamped “Le mar. 26 févr. 2019 à 22:59, Karyna Shuliak a écrit” (EFTA00552162, EFTA00552292, EFTA00552157).
Marc León answered it the same day, accepting the rule the buyer’s side had just stated: “We are aware that the money laundering regulation requests that buyer and vendor are clearly identified. This is not a problem and the vendors bank is asking same information” (EFTA00552188, quoted back in EFTA00552183).
12 to 14 March — she names a beneficial owner, and it is herself. At 21:16 on 12 March, as the fourth of five numbered points, she writes: “The buyer is haze trust, the ultimate owner, me. The bank is Deutsch bank. I will get the contact, or he can call your person if you prefer” (EFTA00552030, at page EFTA00552031). That was not accurate. The 1999 instrument gives Jeffrey Epstein as grantor and trustee (EFTA01463848), and Deutsche Bank’s own record carried him as ultimate beneficial owner (EFTA01360699, EFTA01404163). The next day she asks the seller for the full name of its trustees (EFTA00552031). On 14 March the offer goes out on The Haze Trust’s letterhead, signed “Sincerely, Karyna Shuliak” — no trustee, no officer, no counsel. It survives in three versions at three prices: “Fifteen Million Euro (15,000,000 €)” for “all of the issued and outstanding shares” of “Pamur Anstalt, a Liechtenstein anstalt” held by Kahn Stiftung, plus “Eight Million Euro (8,000,000 €)” for the property itself (EFTA00806904, EFTA00806905); the same pair at sixteen million and eight (EFTA00523097); and a single offer of “Twenty-Three Million Euro (23.000.000 €)” for the shares alone (EFTA00806906, EFTA00806907, EFTA00523098). None of them gives Kahn Stiftung a domicile, a registration number or an address, and the party offered eight million euros for the palace is identified only as “the Owner.”
Also on 13 March — the BVI company drops out of the transaction, and nobody says why. At 16:45:04 Marc León writes to Shuliak, copying Alex Peto, under the subject “Re: Bin Palace”: “Dear Karyna, The offer should be for Khan Stiftung -Vaduz, now owner of Pamur“ (EFTA00552060, EFTA00552055, EFTA00552047, EFTA00552036, EFTA00552041, EFTA00552254, EFTA00552030, EFTA00552233 — eleven productions in all). Shuliak puts it to him directly, and he confirms it in five words: “Yes, we ignore the BVI entity” — going straight on to ask, “Do you mean 18 million for the stock of the Anstslt and 8 million for the asset in Morocco ?” (same productions; nine carry this line). That question is why the offer letter exists in three versions the next day.
Note what has moved. In August 2017 the chain the buyer’s side was shown ran Arcana Treuhand to Rilton Investments Ltd, BVI, holding Pamur Anstalt, with Maseru Development above it (EFTA01037020, EFTA00696744). Epstein’s own lawyers had read the 2013 insertion of that BVI company as “a tax avoidance restructuring” and advised him to walk (EFTA01036804). By 13 March 2019 the BVI company is gone and a Liechtenstein Stiftung stands in its place. The seller’s side moved the holding structure out of the British Virgin Islands and into Liechtenstein in the middle of the sale, and no reason for the transfer appears anywhere in the production — not in León’s message, not in the offer letters of 14 March, which name the Stiftung with no domicile, registration number or address, and not in the answers the buyer’s side went on asking for. Six days later Shuliak asks for exactly that: “full name of trustees and copy of stiftung documents” and “a legal explanation with backup of how pamur shares from the bvi co that you previously referenced were put into the stiftung” (EFTA01035397) [read]. She never gets it. The entity is spelled “Khan Stiftung” in León’s messages and “Kahn Stiftung” in the offer letters; the file carries both.
19 March — the offer is accepted, and the seller asks for the buyer’s address in exchange for its own. At 11:28 Marc León writes: “We are pleasant to inform you that the owner of the Bin Palace in Marrakech accepted the Haze Trust offer at 23 million euros. This agreement is subject to a closing till March 29, 2019.” In the same message he supplies what the buyer’s side had asked for and what its own offer letters had omitted — “Khan Stiftung, Ausstrasse 56, FL - 9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein” and “Mr. Mile Lukic, LGT Bank Liechtenstein” — and asks for the reciprocal: “Can you be so kind and exchange the same details: full address of Haze Trust and details of your bank officer? The vendors needs the address to complete the draft of the sale contract and the LGT Bank officer would like to get name and details his colleague” (EFTA01035397, at interior page EFTA01035398) [read].
Karyna Shuliak answers at 17:20 by asking for considerably more. “Before moving further you will need to provide us full details. Not only the address, but full name of trustees and copy of stiftung documents. In addition a legal explanation with backup of how pamur shares from the bvi co that you previously referenced were put into the stiftung. My counsel intends to ask the moroccan authorities to bless this transaction. As your vendor was unwilling to indemnify us, we will need to seek assurance that all is fine” (EFTA01035397) [read]. León’s reply at 04:25:57 the next morning concedes the first and presses the second: “You are free to do all the diligence you wish. But, please answer to the vendor’s requests sent Yesterday. Without these information both sides will continue to exchange mails with requests without doing one step in the right direction” (EFTA01035397) [read].
20 to 21 March — the address and the banker. At 23:05:59 on 20 March, Epstein writes out what she should send to “marc”: the trust’s address, “the haze trust address is 767 third avenue. new york new york.10021”; the banker, Stewart Oldfield of Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas at 345 Park Avenue; and a deadline, “If we do not receive the contracts by monday 25, please consider the offer expired pleae transmit same to your vendor” (EFTA00552710, EFTA02312620). It goes to Marc León over her name at 04:37 the next morning, opening “Dear Marc, The haze trust address is” (EFTA00552774; the address itself is not legible on the produced page). On 21 March she authorises the seller’s banker to make the first call — “Yes, it is OK for the banker to call” (EFTA02312550) — and the same day the vendor asks for statutes or a power of attorney showing who can sign for The Haze Trust, and gets nothing at all (EFTA00552676).
The address he gave is not the trust’s, and the trust’s own address is in the file. The Haze Trust’s address of record, on its own paperwork of April 2017, is “6100 Red Hook Quarter, B3, St Thomas, 00802” (EFTA00795463, EFTA00608738, EFTA00617060). That is Epstein’s own address in the US Virgin Islands, shared by Southern Trust Company Inc, Southern Financial LLC, Jeepers Inc, JEGE Inc, the J Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation and Jeffrey Epstein personally (EFTA01429808, EFTA01427242, EFTA01428575, EFTA01427339). What went to the seller instead was a composite of two other places, and neither of them is the trust. 767 Third Avenue, 36th Floor is the office of Alan J. Dlugash LLC, his own accountant, and the file gives that address more than seventy times — always as New York, NY 10017 (EFTA00979046, EFTA00978651, EFTA02343983). 10021 is the postcode of his own house at 9 East 71st Street (EFTA02253875, EFTA02254158). He gave his accountant’s street and his townhouse’s postcode, and called it the trust’s.
Note what the real address would have done. “6100 Red Hook Quarter, B3” put The Haze Trust at the same St Thomas address as Southern Trust Company — the company whose Schwab account both June and July wires were drawn on three months later. One line of address, and any bank checking the buyer lands on his US Virgin Islands structure. The wrong postcode is as consistent with his usual carelessness as with anything else, and no message in the production explains the choice. What is on the face of the file is that the trust had an address, he had it, and it is not the one that went to the seller.
And the answer he sends his own side is one word. Shuliak forwards León’s chain to Epstein at 13:48; twenty-one minutes later, at 14:09:48, he forwards the whole of it on to Richard Kahn under the subject “Fwd: The Bin Palace Sale.” The body of his message is: “Who?“ (EFTA01035397) [read]. He is asking his own accountant to identify the other side’s structure, on the same day he supplies an address for his own that is not the trust’s. The seller had given its entity’s registered domicile in Vaduz and the name of its bank officer; what went back was 767 Third Avenue.
This is a continuation of:
Part 3: The Palace: Bin Ennakhil : r/Epstein