(Bloomberg) — French authorities opened new probes into possible sexual and financial crimes linked to Jeffrey Epstein and are revisiting the file on modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who died in a French prison in 2022.
Prompted by the US Justice Department’s release of a large trove of Epstein files, the Paris prosecutor’s office said it set up a dedicated investigation team to analyze the documents for possible links to French nationals.
In addition, all evidence related to Brunel, who at one time was an associate of Epstein’s, will be reexamined, the office said in a statement Saturday. Brunel died in an apparent suicide while facing rape charges.
DOJ’s largest release yet of Epstein files has reverberated through the worlds of finance, business and politics in the US and beyond, leading to resignations of prominent figures mentioned in exchanges with the disgraced financier.
In France, former Culture Minister Jack Lang resigned this month as head of a Paris cultural center over alleged ties to Epstein and prosecutors said they’d opened a tax investigation. Lang has denied wrongdoing.
Paris prosecutors said Saturday they’re investigating the roles of three people, including French diplomat Fabrice Aidan, whose name appears in the Epstein files.
Prosecutors said they were notified by the Foreign Ministry in Paris that his name came up and are looking into compiling further evidence. A lawyer for Aidan didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours, but has previously denied any wrongdoing on the part of her client to Agence France-Presse.
Also cited is Daniel Siad, who a former Swedish model alleges raped her in France in 1990, according to the statement. Siad couldn’t be reached for comment. He denied wrongdoing in a message cited by French broadcaster BFM TV.
The third person under scrutiny is conductor Frédéric Chaslin for alleged sexual harassment in 2016, prosecutors said. In a Facebook post on Friday, Chaslin denied any impropriety and said he’d met Epstein four times to seek support for his musical projects, without knowing about the disgraced financier’s reputation or past conviction.
Prosecutors didn’t specify which aspect of Siad’s and Chaslin’s relationships with Epstein or the DOJ files they are examining.
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