The Paris prosecutor's office announced on Saturday that it had commissioned magistrates to analyze evidence that could implicate French citizens following the publication by the United States of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. The investigation into Jean-Luc Brunel, a former modeling agent and partner of the convicted sex offender, which was dismissed in 2023 after his death, will also be re-examined.

First modification: 02/15/2026 - 03:29

Two weeks after the publication of millions of documents related to American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Paris prosecutor's office announced on Saturday, February 14, the appointment of judges to investigate possible crimes involving French citizens.

The magistrates will also "carry out a complete new analysis of the investigation file" of former modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who died in custody in 2022. The prosecution specified that the evidence requested could be related "to crimes of various kinds, including sexual or financial."

The Parisian prosecutor's office explained that it is working on the analysis of the documents recently published in the United States, "in coordination with the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF, for its acronym in French) and in collaboration with the National Directorate of the Judicial Police (...) to initiate investigations if the crimes are confirmed."

The PNF announced on February 6 the opening of a preliminary investigation for "money laundering due to aggravated tax fraud" against the former Minister of Culture and current former president of the Arab World Institute (IMA), Jack Lang, and his daughter Caroline Lang, also mentioned in the 'Epstein files'.

Three new cases in the spotlight

The Paris prosecutor's office indicated on Saturday that it had taken on three new cases that have received media attention.

An investigation seeks, in particular, to "corroborate" a report sent on February 10 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the diplomat Fabrice Aidan, mentioned in the Epstein case files.

"An investigation is being carried out to gather various evidence that may support this report," said the Prosecutor's Office.

That office is also analyzing a complaint filed on February 11 by a Swedish woman against Daniel Siad, a model recruiter with close ties to Epstein. Siad is accused of "sexual acts that she describes as rape and that may have occurred in France in 1990."

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Finally, on February 12, the Paris prosecutor's office "received, after the transfer of the case from the Thonon-les-Bains prosecutor's office, a complaint against the conductor Frédéric Chaslin." "This case, relating to alleged sexual harassment that occurred in 2016," is currently under review, he stressed.

Regarding Brunel's case, which was closed with a dismissal in July 2023 after his suicide in custody in February 2022, the prosecution recalled that "no other person was charged in this case" and set the objective "to be able to extract any evidence that can be reused in a new investigative framework."

Prostitution and harmful drugs

The investigation against Brunel began in the summer of 2019 after two reports from the Innocence in Danger association and a letter from the Women and Freedom association that denounced French complicity in the Epstein case in the United States.

A complainant accused the French 'talent scout' of raping her in the 1980s, when she was just over 18 years old and working as a model. The Paris prosecutor's office then entrusted the investigation to the Central Office for the Repression of Violence against Persons (OCRVP).

"Investigators summarized the statements of a US investigation, indicating that Jean-Luc Brunel was a close friend of Jeffrey Epstein; that he offered modeling jobs to low-income young people; and that he had had sexual relations with minors in the United States, the US Virgin Islands, Paris and the south of France," the attorney general's office stated.

In response to a public request for witnesses, several women reported having attended parties in Paris where alcohol and cocaine were consumed in large quantities, and where young people met Jean-Luc Brunel. Some described an environment of prostitution and harmful drug use, especially among minors, as well as a climate of sexual violence.

Ten women denounced Jean-Luc Brunel; Several described having been pressured to drink alcohol, having lost consciousness and having been forced to have sexual relations, some even being minors, the prosecutor's office stressed.

"A woman described Jean-Luc Brunel as having brought young women to Jeffrey Epstein, under the pretext of photo shoots, from Eastern Europe or Latin America. Others indicated that they were forced to maintain these sexual relations due to their young age and the control that Jeffrey Epstein or Jean-Luc Brunel exercised over them," concluded the Parisian judicial office.

With AFP

Article adapted from its original in French

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