UAE paid $6m to bury damaging report on US ambassador Otaiba

UAE paid $6m to bury damaging report on US ambassador Otaiba Submitted by MEE staff on Tue, 05/19/2026 - 12:57 Terakeet, a firm linked to the Epstein Files, managed reputation of Yousef al-Otaiba, NYT reports United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the US Yousef al-Otaiba at the Javits Centre in New York City, 3 March 2025 (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images via AFP) Off The United Arab Emirates paid a US reputation management firm more than $6m to bury a damaging report about its ambassador in Washington, the New York Times reported on Monday. Yousef al-Otaiba, who has been the UAE’s ambassador to the US since 2008 and who is known as one of the best-connected diplomats in Washington, was concerned about a 2017 article that reported he had ties to sex workers and traffickers. From July 2019, according to Foreign Agents Registration Act records, the UAE has employed Terakeet, a firm based in Syracuse, New York, to optimise Google searches to promote tourism in the Emirates and to manage Otaiba’s reputation.