She Was Set to Inherit Three Islands. Then, 48 Hours Before Epstein Died, Her Name Disappeared.

In February 2019, Celina Edith Dubin was the single largest beneficiary of Jeffrey Epstein's estate. She stood to inherit three islands, a New Mexico ranch, and a $10 million operating fund. Six months later, two days before Epstein was found dead in his cell, her name was gone.

The story of why the 24-year-old daughter of hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin was removed from Epstein's trust in the final 48 hours of his life is one of the most revealing threads in the entire Epstein file corpus. It ties together a convicted sex offender's documented obsession with a teenage girl, the girl's parents' extraordinary willingness to maintain that relationship, and a last-minute legal scramble that reshaped the distribution of a $577 million fortune.

The Obsession

Celina Dubin was born in 1995 to Glenn Dubin, co-founder of Highbridge Capital Management, and Eva Andersson-Dubin, a Swedish physician and former model who dated Epstein throughout the 1980s. Eva married Glenn in 1994. The Dubins became part of Epstein's innermost social circle, and their children grew up in his orbit.

Epstein's interest in Celina began when she was a child. By her teenage years, the documents suggest it had become something else entirely.

In 2010, when Celina was 15, Eva Dubin emailed Epstein's assistant to arrange a visit, noting that Celina "will have 5 friends over." Eva had written to Epstein's Palm Beach probation officer the previous year, stating she was "100% comfortable with Jeffrey Epstein around her children." Epstein had been convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution just two years earlier.

By 2014, when Celina was 19, Epstein told associates he wanted to marry her. He called her his "most favorite person in the whole world." He kept a box labeled "Celina Photos" in his residence. He had a Spotify playlist titled "Celina." She called him "Uncle F."

That same year, Epstein named Celina as a beneficiary in his trust. She was removed in a 2015 amendment. Then she was added back, more prominently than before, in January 2019.

The February Trust

The Jeffrey E. Epstein 2019 Trust, created January 18, 2019, was amended and restated on February 4. In the amended version, Celina Dubin received the most valuable property allocation of any named beneficiary:

She was given Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico (through Cypress Inc.), Little St. James island (through Nautilus Inc.), and Great St. James island (through Poplar Inc.), plus a $10 million operating fund to maintain the three properties. Combined, these assets were worth an estimated $60 million or more.

But that was not all. Celina was also named as the 100% residual beneficiary of the entire estate. After all specific bequests were paid, every remaining dollar, every remaining asset, every remaining interest would flow to Celina Edith Dubin.

For a 24-year-old woman whose parents claimed their relationship with Epstein was purely social, this was an extraordinary designation.

The Arrest

On July 6, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested at Teterboro Airport on federal sex trafficking charges. Within weeks, previously sealed court documents were unsealed, including Virginia Giuffre's 2016 deposition in which she named Glenn Dubin as someone Ghislaine Maxwell had directed her to have sex with. The Dubins issued an immediate denial, calling the allegations "outrageous."

The timing created an impossible situation. Epstein was facing a federal trial in which his relationships with young women would be the central issue. Celina Dubin, the daughter of his closest associates, a woman he had known since childhood and had expressed wanting to marry, was positioned to inherit the bulk of his estate. Her name in the trust was a liability on every possible front.

For Epstein: it provided prosecutors with evidence of his pattern of fixation on young women, extending to his financial planning. For the Dubins: it cemented their family's connection to Epstein in a permanent legal document that would become part of the public record. For Celina herself: it potentially made her a witness in the criminal trial.

The 1953 Trust

On August 8, 2019, Epstein signed a new trust agreement in New York City. He renamed it "The 1953 Trust," after the year of his birth. It was notarized by Mariana A. Melendez. Two days later, he was dead.

Celina Dubin's name appears nowhere in the 1953 Trust.

The three island and ranch properties that had been designated for her were transferred to Karyna Shuliak, Epstein's girlfriend. The 100% residual was replaced with a pro rata distribution among all 43 named beneficiaries. Every trace of Celina's position as the estate's primary heir was erased.

In her place, new beneficiaries appeared who had not been in the February version: Ghislaine Maxwell ($10 million), Mark Epstein ($10 million in trust for his children), Perry Bard ($3 million), and several others. The trustees' own payouts increased dramatically: Darren Indyke went from $20 million to $50 million. The claims defense fund jumped from $2 million to $50 million.

The Parents

The Dubin family's relationship with Epstein was not passive and was not limited to social occasions. The documents paint a picture of sustained, intimate engagement that continued long after the 2008 conviction.

Glenn Dubin's emails to Epstein are strikingly casual for a man corresponding with a registered sex offender. On Epstein's birthday in January 2016, Dubin wrote: "Happy Bday!! Please tell me that your libido has slowed a little at this age??!!" In May 2015: "thanks for a fun night... Hearing the Lone Ranger story and seeing Woody laugh were highlights!" In April 2016, he forwarded a photo of Nicolas Berggruen's "test tube babies" to Epstein.

As recently as March 2019, just four months before the arrest, a communication from "Dubin & Company" at 55 Hudson Yards referenced Jeffrey Epstein through Allison Yorke, suggesting the professional relationship was ongoing.

Eva Andersson-Dubin's facilitation went further. Beyond the 2009 probation letter and the 2010 invitation involving Celina's friends, she coordinated logistics with Epstein's staff through Allison Yorke for years. She invited Epstein to Thanksgiving dinner after his conviction. The Epstein Exposed investigation previously documented her role as a facilitator in the network's operations.

The Renunciation

In April 2020, seven months after Epstein's death, the Dubin family formally renounced any inheritance from the estate. A statement claimed Celina "was unaware that she was named in any Epstein trust."

This claim is difficult to reconcile with the documentary record. Celina had been named in the 2014 trust when she was 19. She was removed in 2015. She was reinstated in January 2019 as the largest beneficiary. Through all of these iterations, her father maintained a close, joking, first-name relationship with Epstein, and her mother actively coordinated with his staff.

The U.S. Virgin Islands subsequently served subpoenas on both Glenn and Eva Dubin demanding documents related to financial transactions with Epstein, travel to his USVI properties, communications regarding Virginia Giuffre, and records about the Dubins' children and their contact with Epstein.

What the Removal Tells Us

The 33-day window between Epstein's arrest and the 1953 Trust's signing was a period of frantic legal maneuvering. The trust was restructured in ways that suggest its drafters were preparing for litigation, not for death: the claims defense fund increased 2,500 percent, the trustees increased their own payouts by 87 percent, and the single-beneficiary residual structure was replaced with a distributed model that would be harder for victims' attorneys to target.

Celina Dubin's removal fits this pattern. She was not removed because Epstein stopped caring about her. She was removed because her presence in the trust had become a weapon that prosecutors, victims' attorneys, and journalists could all use against everyone involved.

The Dubins almost certainly demanded it. Epstein's lawyers almost certainly agreed. And in the process, they left behind a documentary trail that tells us more about the Epstein-Dubin relationship than any of them intended.

All trust documents and emails referenced in this article are from the U.S. Department of Justice Epstein file releases. The original trust (EFTA00098341), the February amendment (EFTA01266168), and the 1953 Trust (EFTA00099303) are accessible through the Epstein Exposed document database.