UAE suppresses sullying report on US ambassador Otaiba
Otaiba speaking against Iranian attacks on Gulf states
Between 2020 and 2022, the United Arab Emirates paid over $6m to Terakeet, an American reputation firm, to suppress The Intercept’s detrimental article, as reported by the New York Times on May 17th 2026.
The article in question claimed to expose the UAE’s US ambassador, Yousef al-Otaiba, for his alleged connections to sex workers and traffickers.
Otaiba has been noted as one of the “most powerful” men in Washington, with close ties to Jared Kushner that enabled his intermediary role between the Middle East and the United States. Internationally recognised and influential, it is clear to see why Otaiba would work to hide such a detrimental article.
Terakeet and the UAE were meticulous to avoid a digital trail of their work, even relocating an account manager to Washington for over a year to work with Otaiba in person.
This attempt at redemption worked to conceal The Intercept article from Google results and protect UAE tourism, publishing web pages and blogs to flatter the UAE and Otaiba.
These blogs were linked in profiles sent to institutions the ambassador was affiliated with, boosting their rankings in Google’s search engine while sinking the scandalous article.
When published in 2017, The Intercept article was one of the first results for users searching Otaiba online. Now, the article has disappeared to page five for most users, according to Middle East Eye.
Otaiba has only confirmed that Terakeet has done work for the UAE, declining to comment any further.
Terakeet has also been involved in redeeming the reputation of Epstein affiliates, namely Kathryn Ruemmler, a former White House counsel of the Obama administration. This connection was proven detrimental to her career as she resigned over her links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Despite her eventual resignation at Goldman Sachs, Terakeet’s strategy for Ruemmler engaged in “furtive, algorithm-placating digital tradecraft,” reported by the NYT as key to its standing in the market of reputation management firms.
New York Times, Maghrebi.org
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