France has launched new investigations into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with investigators looking into contacts of people in political and diplomatic circles who may have been linked to his network.
Reuters writes about this.
In particular, investigators are investigating the case of French diplomat Fabrice Aidan. According to one version, he may have passed United Nations documents to Epstein. The diplomat himself has denied these allegations.
The new investigations were prompted by materials released by the US Department of Justice. The documents include flight records and emails that show Epstein regularly visited Paris. There, he had an apartment in a prestigious area near the Arc de Triomphe and, according to investigators, could have maintained contacts with influential people.
Five prosecutors are separately examining the leaked materials to see if French citizens may have been involved in sexual or financial crimes linked to the case, and they believe that if the case gains publicity, more victims will dare to tell their stories.
A group of independent experts from the UN Human Rights Council suggests that Epsteinʼs network may have been global in nature. France is the only country outside the United States where Epstein owned real estate, so the new investigation could shed light on the international part of his activities.
French prosecutors had already opened a case regarding Epsteinʼs connections in 2019, but it was closed in 2023. One of the reasons was the death of a key figure, modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who was found dead in a French prison cell.
What connects Jean-Luc Brunel with Epstein?
Jean-Luc Brunel is a French modeling agent who has worked in the fashion industry since the 1970s and owned agencies in France and the United States. He was considered one of Jeffrey Epsteinʼs closest associates.
According to the testimonies of the victims, including Virginia Giuffre, one of the main accusers in the Epstein case, Brunel allegedly sought out young girls from disadvantaged families for the financier and his entourage, promising them modeling careers. Giuffre claimed that she herself was "passed on" to influential men as part of this scheme.
Brunel has been accused of sexual assault and human trafficking for years. He was arrested in France in 2020, but never brought to trial: he was found dead in his prison cell in 2022.
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