Former President Dr Waheed, Linked to Sex Offender Epstein, Resigns as Special Envoy to the President

Former President and Special Envoy to the President, Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, who was linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has tendered his resignation today following public calls for President Mohamed Muizzu to remove him from the position.

The President’s Office confirmed that President Dr Mohamed Muizzu received Dr Waheed’s letter of resignation earlier this morning; however, they did not provide a reason for his resignation.

President Muizzu had appointed Waheed to the position on 26 May 2025. Waheed did not receive any remuneration for carrying out the role.

Public calls for Waheed to step down from the role intensified following the recent release of the Epstein Files by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), which linked Waheed to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

The DOJ documents, published under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405), mention Waheed in 649 records. Email exchanges indicate that Waheed and Epstein met on multiple occasions and discussed the potential sale of Innareha Island. Waheed reportedly refused to proceed with the sale, stating in one email that “the island is too beautiful to be ‘sold’ to just anyone.”

Despite the correspondence, there is no evidence that Waheed participated in any of the sex trafficking crimes Epstein was accused of.

The public had been calling for Waheed’s resignation, and his decisions while in office are now under close scrutiny.