France is no longer pretending the Jeffrey Epstein document dump is someone else’s problem.
After nearly three million pages of newly released U.S. Justice Department files rattled power circles across Europe, the Paris prosecutor’s office has now assembled a dedicated team of magistrates to dig through the documents and determine whether names in the Epstein files translate into prosecutable offenses under French law,” according to The New York Times.
The prosecutor’s office said it is analyzing the documents to decide whether to open formal investigations. At the same time, officials confirmed they are reviewing three new complaints tied directly to the files — and revisiting an earlier case involving one of Epstein’s closest French associates.
One complaint led to an investigation into French diplomat Fabrice Aidan, whose name reportedly appears more than 200 times in the Epstein documents. The complaint was filed by France’s Foreign Affairs Ministry. Prosecutors cautioned that the filing “did not contain further details,” and being named in the files is not proof of wrongdoing.
Aidan’s lawyer, Jade Dousselin, said her client “denies all of the accusations brought against him” and is “fully available to the courts to answer their questions.”
Another complaint was filed by a Swedish woman accusing Daniel Siad — also named in the files — of “sexual acts that she describes as rape,” allegedly committed in France in 1990.
Siad defended himself on France 2 television, saying Epstein “took advantage of my trust. He’s a gentleman, he knows how to talk, he’s a diplomat, I wasn’t in a position to know that this man was dangerous.”
A third complaint targets French conductor Frédéric Chaslin over allegations of sexual harassment in 2016. Prosecutors did not disclose who filed it. In a statement posted to Facebook, Chaslin said he had only brief, professional contact with Epstein while seeking patronage for musical projects. “As Epstein moved in the circles of New York’s intellectual elite, I did not dig into his past,” he wrote.
The Paris prosecutor’s office also said it will reanalyze the investigation into Jean-Luc Brunel, the French modeling agent and longtime Epstein associate who died in a Paris jail cell in 2022 while awaiting trial on rape and sexual harassment charges.
Ten women had testified against Brunel. Several said they were underage at the time of the alleged assaults. One described him as the man who brought young girls to Epstein from Eastern Europe or Latin America. According to a summary shared by prosecutors, some women said they were forced into sexual relations because of their age, the power the men held over them, and the isolation of the luxury locations where they were taken.
Politically, France has so far avoided the kind of explosive fallout seen in Britain and Norway. But there has been movement. Former culture minister Jack Lang resigned last week as head of the Arab World Institute after authorities began investigating reports of financial links between him and Epstein.
“I am relieved that justice, true justice and not media or digital justice, is taking up this matter,” Lang told La Tribune Dimanche. “I believe in the law. When it comes to Mr. Jeffrey Epstein, I am as white as snow, but it seems that this expression is so outdated that it backfires on you.”
France now says it’s taking a hard look at who appears in Epstein’s orbit. The question is how far up that list investigators are willing to climb.
