THE EPSTEIN PIPELINE RUNS THROUGH ABU DHABI

Eight years after a documented Homeland Security Investigations raid left a felony sex‑crime referral uncharged, a web of investments links Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, a $280 billion sovereign wealth fund, and a Michigan fruit processor that is the largest employer in Oceana County. Mubadala Investment Company — chaired by Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and managing roughly $280 billion in assets — invested in Peterson Farms via Mubadala Capital’s MIC Capital Partners III, a roughly $1.6 billion private equity fund that closed in February 2020. Peterson Farms processes more than 150 million pounds of frozen fruit a year and took in about $469 million through the Mubadala vehicle.

"retained all daily and long-term strategic decision making."

The quote came from CEO Aaron Peterson in an August 18, 2021 letter to growers after Mubadala Capital named Peterson Farms one of Fund III’s "nine high-quality assets." Corporate filings and transaction disclosures, however, show Mubadala executives on Peterson’s board — including Adib Mattar, Head of Private Equity at Mubadala Capital — and a layered private equity structure that lists MIC CP Peterson Aggregator LP alongside Peterson Family Holdings, LLC at the top.

• Ownership chain: Government of Abu Dhabi → Mubadala Investment Company → Mubadala Capital → MIC Capital Partners III → Peterson Farms.
• Investment and scale: Mubadala’s $280 billion in assets is larger than the annual GDP of several U.S. states; the Michigan State Retirement Systems hold about $69.9 billion, roughly one-quarter of Mubadala’s book.
• Transaction dates: Mubadala closed its investment in Peterson Farms in February 2020; Fund III closed at $1.6 billion in commitments on August 17, 2021.

The corporate picture grows more complex on closer inspection. Federal court disclosures filed by the Peterson defendants in April 2025 revealed a five‑layer private equity stack with two Delaware debt shells and PFI Holdco above the operating companies. Not disclosed in those filings was PFC Holdings LLC, a Michigan company organized in August 2019 by Varnum LLP partner Jeffrey W. Beswick at the Peterson marital home — a company that holds title to a 2009 Gulfstream G150 business jet, FAA registration N285GA, managed out of Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids.

Public records also show the State of Michigan as an investor in Peterson Farms through the Michigan Department of Treasury and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, alongside Mubadala Capital, Michigan Community Capital, and PNC. Peterson entities received three Food and Agriculture Investment Program grants in 2018, 2020, and 2024 totaling $535,000.

The broader context ties this investment to international actors and controversies: Erik Prince, who relocated to Abu Dhabi after selling Blackwater and received significant funding and property there, and Dubai free‑zone operators linked to adult platforms whose beneficial owners include figures operating from Gulf jurisdictions. The U.S. has no bilateral extradition treaty with the UAE; the individual at the center of the uncharged referral remains unindicted eight years after the HSI raid.

Outlook

Peterson Farms’ expansion continued after Mubadala’s entry: acquisitions included Lakewood Organics in December 2020 and Country Pure Foods in December 2025. With Mubadala capital on the cap table, state agencies as co‑investors, and ongoing legal disclosures in federal court, scrutiny is likely to persist on governance, transparency, and the unresolved criminal referral. Questions about the reach of foreign sovereign investment into strategic U.S. food processors — and the political and legal channels that intersect with those deals — will shape reporting and policy debates as the story develops.